Ingredients:

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   1      cup           mayonnaise
   1      tablespoon    lemon juice - fresh
   1 1/2  teaspoons     tomato paste
   1 1/2  teaspoons     shallot - minced
     1/2  teaspoon      Dijon mustard
     1/4  teaspoon      pepper
   1      pound         asparagus - trimmed
   8      ounces        crabmeat - cooked
   4      large         Boston lettuce leaves - or -- butter lettuce
                        -- leave

Preparation:

Whisk mayonnaise, lemon juice, tomato paste, shallot, Dijon mustard and pepper in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead.) Cook asparagus in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl of ice water and cool. Drain and pat dry. mix crabmeat into mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt. Arrange 1 lettuce leaf on each plate. Top with asparagus. Spoon crabmeat mayonnaise over and serve. Bon Appetit, April, 1991.