All along the Gulf Coast, crab is plentiful and almost cheap during the summer. It has a luxurious flavor, but it’s still light, and in this ceviche-like salad the lime and basil enhance the warm-weather flavors. The salty capers are a good foil for the sweetness of the crab and carrots. Serve this refreshing combination on lettuce leaves, as described below, or in a parfait or martini glass, garnished with a wedge of lime and some tortilla chips.
I prefer the texture of finely diced carrots in this salad. However, they need to be blanched, then shocked in ice water, before you use them, to ensure that the texture is not too dramatically different from that of the other ingredients in the salad. Raw carrots with too much crunch would take away from the elegance of this salad.
