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1
Combine all dressing ingredients in food processor or blender; blend until smooth and the consistency of a mayonnaise based dip.
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2
Cover and set aside in the refrigerator.
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3
Pour the pecan halves on a tray and toast, 7 or 8 minutes; remove from oven and sprinkle with kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
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4
Set aside to cool, when cool, coarse chop 1/4 cup, leave the rest whole.
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5
Break tough ends off asparagus; steam for 3 minutes, just until tender crisp, there should be lots of crunch left.
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6
Plunge into ice water; slice all but 12 spears into 1/4 inch pieces.
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7
Scrape the carrots and grate, seed and dice the tomatoes.
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8
Rinse the crabmeat and thourghly dry on paper towel, squeezing out the moisture.
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9
(If using imitation, chop into small pieces.)
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10
Combine crabmeat, chopped asparagus, grated carrots, diced tomatoes, chopped pecans, dried dill weed, salt and cayenne pepper; mix well.
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11
Add 1/2 of the dressing to the crabmeat mixture.
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12
Use only enough dressing to hold the mixture together.
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13
The mixture should be fairly dry, not runny.
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14
Reserve the rest of the dressing to use as a dip for the lettuce rolls.
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15
Wash and separate lettuce leaves, dry as much as possible, best dried in a spinner.
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16
Place 1 to 2 tablespoons of crabmeat mixture in lettuce cup and roll as tightly as possible appetizer size, use toothpicks if necessary, or leave open if you wish.
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17
Repeat until all filling mixture is used.
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18
Place on serving platter and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if using.
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19
(I like to grate the Parmesan with my zester grater because it makes nice fine fluffy strings.)
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20
Place a pecan half on top of each roll.
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21
Garnish the platter with more pecan halves and the 12 reserved asparagus spears.
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22
Serve chilled at least one hour.
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23
The lettuce rolls can be made larger for luncheon use etc.
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24
,or they can be served with crabmeat mixture in a bowl and the lettuce cups separate for each diner to fill themselves, serve extra asparagus and pecan halves on the side.
