Soft Shell Crabs

Last summer was the first time we had rented a house for vacation.  It made a lot of sense since we were meeting up with my mom, my sisters and their spouses.  There were some frustrations with the rental (Lots of extra bags to pack, remembering stuff like garbage bags, cleaning up after yourself) but it was great to not have to eat out for every meal.  In addition to saving both calories and money, it is rewarding to be in the kitchen with your family, trading recipes and techniques.

They’re Alive!  Just kidding, they’re already dead

 

The good memories that came out of those family dinners encouraged Dan and me to rent a house for our vacation this year.  I was looking forward to going to the roadside seafood shops to find the freshest local seafood and turning it into a fresh meal.  The other benefit, every meal at our rental house had an ocean view.

Ocean front dining at its best

 

For our first cooking project we decided to tackle soft shell crabs.  I saw an accessible recipe on The Food Network and was excited to try to make Dan’s favorite shellfish dish.

 

Crispy deliciousness

 

Soft Shell Crabs

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

 

Notes:  We bought the crabs already dead and had to make it the same night we bought them, so don’t buy them ahead of time.  I was always hesitant to make soft shell crabs because I thought they would be deep fried, but this recipe called for the crabs to be sautéed and except for a small spitting episode the crabs behaved like perfect gentlemen.  

Protective gear just in case the crabs act out

 

Ingredients

• 4 soft-shell crabs, cleaned and patted dry
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Few chive blades, chopped

Directions

1. Season crabs with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour(I cracked some additional pepper into the flour to help it stick).  Shake off the excess flour and set them aside.

 

2.  Heat a large skillet over medium high and add 2 T olive oil and sauté the crabs for about 2 minutes on each side (or until soft but this was hard for me to judge).

 

3.  Remove the crabs and set aside. Add the 3 cloves garlic and 1/2 c white wine. Cook until wine has reduced in half. Add the butter and stir until melted.

 

4. Pour a little sauce over the crabs and sprinkle with chives.

Awful Arthurs

I love going to the beach in the off season.  The weather is cooler, the crowds aren’t quite as dense, and houses are far more affordable, even when they are only steps from the beach.  (After repeated and highly scientific measurements, we determined that our house was between twenty and a hundred steps from the ocean, depending on the tide).  Our timing for our most recent trip was perfect.  It was just us and the pelicans (and the dolphins!) enjoying the sun and the surf.  The weather was comfortable enough to spend the days on the beach catching some rays and the nights with the windows open listening to the waves.  Now that school and triathlons are no longer setting our schedule, I think more off season trips are in our future.

 

You can barely see them but there are about 30 pelicans flying over the waves in this pic

 

Of course, we had to eat somewhere, and we both wanted to get some crabs.  A friend told me about this place called Awful Arthurs but warned me in the same breath that it was always packed.  Enter our senior citizen vacation schedule, riding to the rescue!  (Our senior citizen eating schedule – dinner at 5:30 – probably didn’t hurt either).  Though the place was still almost packed owing to some sort of biker convention, we got a table almost immediately.

 

 

The restaurant itself is in a long and skinny building across the street from the beach.  There weren’t many windows or much of a view in the main dining room but there is a second floor bar that offers ocean views.  The people watching was one of the best parts of it all.

 

 

We were entertained by our neighbors while we were enjoying steamed oysters, clams, shrimp and snow crab legs.  It seems like biking conventions are much like other conventions, scheduled events and tons of gossip.  Our neighbors were enjoying the gossip part of the schedule are were going on about how the biking culture is being coopted by rich doctors and lawyers who shipped their bikes instead of driving all the way to the beach. Those posers! 

 

We had such a good time that we decided to go again on our last night, unfortunately we didn’t follow our senior citizen rule and ended up taking the food to go.