Fresh crab salad on a warm summer day is a perfect cold lunch recipe.

Pair it with another salad or two and some fresh crusty rolls. On a warm summer day, can it get any better than that?

Prep time: 10 minutes, plus chilling

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh lump crab meat
3/4 cup celery, finely chopped
3 tablespoons green or red pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
2 tablespoons French dressing, homemade or bottled
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
lettuce
tomato wedges to garnish

Directions:
Check crab meat carefully for shells and remove them. Combine crab meat, celery, green or red pepper, chives and French dressing. Chill for 2 hours.

When ready to serve, combine mayonnaise and curry powder and mix with the crab mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Line a serving platter with lettuce and arrange the crab salad over it. Serve chilled.

Makes 4 servings.

• The recipe calls for fresh crab meat and that is wonderful, but let's face it. Not all of us are on a fresh crab meat budget. If you wish, feel free to substitute either canned crab or the fake crab that is really pollock fish, "dressed up". Purists may not think it tastes quite as good as real lump crab meat, but it will still be a delicious treat.

• Turn this into a seafood salad by replacing all or part of the cooked crab with shrimp. Use either small salad shrimp, or chop larger shrimp.

• This is a wonderful seafood salad sandwich recipe. It tastes great on all kinds of bread, but try it on a fresh croissant for a special treat.