Page: 235
Date Cooked: May 25, 2011
Well everyone...they're here! It's soft-shell crab season and the moment I saw them at the fish counter I immediately remembered that JW happened to have a few recipes in "A Great American Cook" that needed this ingredient. A soft-shell crab (a.k.a. blue crab) is simply a crab that has recently molted their old exoskeleton. Thus a real time saver when you think about the fact that you get to just bite right into it! Yep, no cracking any shells - just immediate crab.
Of course the recipe calls for live crabs and even outlines the instructions on how to go about cleaning them on a different page (page: 102). Luckily for me, I could get my "fishmonger" (a Jonathan Waxman term) to clean them for me. Moreover, it appears that I have many firsts during this project and this was the first time I personally cooked a soft-shell crab.
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| Ingredients: Soft-shell crabs, fresh peas, lemon, unsalted butter, red pepper flakes, and salt |
The first step was to shuck the peas, which of course took more time than I would have liked. The recipe gives you the option to use frozen peas and that is definitely something to keep in mind for next time. Regardless this was the only real laborious portion of the recipe.
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| Shucked peas |
With the hard work behind me, I then focused on the crabs. I melted some butter in a skillet and once it stopped foaming, I added the crabs top side down. After a few minutes, I flipped the crabs, added the peas, red pepper flakes, and some salt.
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| From Left to Right: Soft-shell crabs; Crabs in butter; Flipped crabs with peas, red pepper flakes, and salt |
Once the crabs were cooked, I removed them from the skillet and put them on plates. Upon turning off the heat, I added some more butter to the peas and red pepper flakes. And then I finally topped it off with some lemon juice. I then spooned the sauce and peas over the crab and I was done.
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| Soft-Shell Crab with Spicy Peas |
I need to emphasize how incredibly quick and easy this recipe really was. Had I used frozen peas...it would have taken 10 minutes tops! It was ridiculous how quickly this meal came together. The kick from the red pepper flakes with the buttery-lemon sauce = amazing. Furthermore, the peas complimented the crab perfectly. The crab was also a no-brainer to make.
Cooking a certain kind of shellfish for the first time (or cooking anything for the first time) comes with a bit of anxiety; and I was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy it was to make soft-shell crab. There is no doubt in my mind that I would make this again. It was quick, simple, and delicious! Heck it even looks beautiful on the plate!
Enjoy!
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