INGREDIENTS

Harissa Aioli:

4 medium garlic cloves

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large egg yolks

4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon stone ground mustard

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoon harissa

Beignets:

3 ounces (about 3 thick cut slices) bacon, finely chopped

1 small shallot, minced

6 ounces crab meat (not imitation)

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoon chopped chives

1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

3 cups oil (for frying)

1 1/2 cups beer

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the harissa aioli by first mincing garlic with the kosher salt. Then, using the side of a chef knife, smash the minced garlic into a paste. Place it in a medium sized bowl with the egg yolks, lemon juice and mustard. Beat the ingredients together with a balloon whisk. While continuing to whisk, slowly drizzle (a drop at a time in the beginning) the oil into the egg yolk mixture. Continue to drizzle the oil until it is complete incorporated into the egg yolks. Add the harissa and stir until uniform in color. Cover bowl and set aside while you make the beignets.

2. Fry the bacon pieces until crispy in the Anolon® Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 3-quart covered sauté pan, then remove the bacon from the pan and leave bacon fat in the pan. Place the cooking oil in the pan with the bacon fat and heat on medium high heat, until the oil reaches 375°F.

3. While the oil heats up, place the bacon in a medium bowl with the shallot, crab meat, mascarpone cheese, chives, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and pepper and stir until mixed thoroughly.

4. Place the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and remaining 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt in a bowl and stir vigorously with a balloon whisk until well blended together. Add the beer and stir until a batter forms.

5. Once the oil has heated up, adjust the heat to maintain the 375ºF temperature. Scoop a tablespoon of the crab and bacon mixture up and roll into a ball with your hands. Dip the ball in the batter with a fork, letting the  then fry the ball in the oil for about 4 minutes, or until the outside of the beignet is golden brown. Repeat with the remaining crab and bacon mixture. Season the fried beignets with salt and serve with the harissa aioli for dipping.

Recipe Note:

Recipe created by Anolon Holiday Hosting Guide and food blogger partner, Irvin Lin of Eat the Love. 

Eat the Love Blurb

Though my ethnic heritage is Taiwanese-American, I’m a Midwest boy at heart. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and that means I’ve got a weakness for deep-fried anything. So when I had an opportunity to develop a recipe for savory crab and bacon beignets, I was a pretty happy camper. Turns out, my partner AJ was pretty happy too, as he kept on reaching for more and more of these fried balls of savory salty deliciousness. The harissa aioli dipping sauce just brings the beignets to a new level but don’t be scared by it. It’s fairly easy to make, especially with the store-bought harissa. Get the recipe for my Crab and Bacon Beignets with Harissa Aioli over at the Anolon website!

I’m teaming up with Anolon for the month of October, November and December to create recipes for their site! Follow their hashtag #HolidayHosting for more recipes and fun! A special thanks to Anolon for sponsoring this post. I was compensated for developing the recipe on their site as well as this post and all Anolon products were provided by them. However all opinions above are totally my own and are not endorsed by Anolon.