Recently, Meatless Monday offered bloggers the opportunity to try some Gardein products to use for the creation of recipe ideas.  Gardein has a large selection of vegetarian meat substitute items. I decided to try the crabless cakes, because I live in Maryland, and we love our crab cakes. I have to say, I didn’t tell my family that this wasn’t actual crab until after they tried it.  They were quite impressed at the quality of these cakes, though the flavor was closer to that of maybe a white fish cake.

To go with the crabless cakes, I wanted to make a fresh, peppery salad that I felt would be a good foil to the crab-like flavor of the cakes.   Now that the weather is warming up, I am looking toward Spring and fresh, Spring produce to lighten up our meals from the heavier Winter fare.

This watercress salad made a great meal when paired with the crabless cakes.

We served the crabless cakes on top of the salad, with lemon wedges for squirting on the cakes.

Watercress Salad with Gardein Crabless Cakes

Salad ingredients

4 cups of watercress, roughly chopped if desired

1 cucumber, finely chopped

2 medium sized tomatoes, finely chopped

2-4 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped

Sumac, for garnish, if desired (optional)

Dressing ingredients

4 tablespoons Tahini

2-3 tablespoons Lemon juice

¼ – ½ teaspoon garlic, finely minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Make the tahini dressing: put tahini in small bowl. Add lemon juice and garlic (if using). Combine until you have a thick paste the consistency of peanut butter. Add ¼ cup of water. Stir to blend completely smooth.  If you prefer a thinner consistency, you can add an addition ¼ cup of water.

Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Pour dressing on top. Toss to coat salad with the dressing completely.   

 

Garnish with a sprinkling of sumac, if desired.

**I was offered free Gardein items to try and use in a recipe.  However, I would not have featured it in a post if I did not like it myself.