Dungeness Crab Toasts Recipes

Steps:

• Cleaning dungeness crab:
• Holding the body backside up, place your right thumb in the joint between the upper and lower shell on the side opposite the mouth. Your palm will be stretched across the top of the shell. Hold the bottom of the crab in your opposite hand. Force your thumb in and pull up and back to your right until shell snaps off. Pour any juices in the shell into a small bowl. Cut the body into quarters with a large knife. Twist the legs off the body. Crack lightly in several places with a nutcracker and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a very large ovenproof saute pan over medium-high heat until hot. (You may need 2 pans.) Add the crab and garlic, and toss well. Saute for about 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper and mix in lemon juice. Saute for another 5 minutes, then add parsley. After another 1 or 2 minutes, remove the crab and serve in the newspaper lined cans.

Steps:

• Crabs: Depending on where you get the crabs they could be alive or preboiled.
• If they're alive, place the crabs in boiling water for 5 minutes (until red in color). Remove from pot and cool them in iced water (quick cool). With your thumb and index finger pry open the head, remove innards and save. Under running water wipe clean the head area.
• Crab innards: In a blender add the innards with 1/4 cup of white wine, blend on pulse, strain, and save.
• In a pot on medium heat add olive oil, shallots, rosemary, thyme, and peppercorns. Cook until light brown, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of wine. Add the blended crab innards, the canola oil, and the garlic salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Skim the top, remove from the heat and cool for a few minutes. Strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. Whisk in the garlic puree and let rest.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Place the 2 crabs in a large oven-proof skillet, ladle the crab butter over them, (be generous) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Set the crabs on your serving dish, sprinkle with garlic salt, put the empty head shells back on (you can brush the shell with olive oil to shine) sprinkle. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Steps:

• Place the crab in a large pot and cover with water. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes. Drain the crab and rinse under cold running water. Refrigerate until almost ready to serve, about 1 hour. About 30 minutes before serving, heat the oven to 350 degrees and remove the crab from the refrigerator. Pull off the legs and claws. Crack the large sections of each using the back of a heavy knife or a nutcracker. Arrange on a platter. Lift off the top shell. Using a small spoon, scoop out all of the golden butter and any ivory fat. Set these aside in a small bowl. With your fingers, pull away the slender, finger-like gills and discard them. Also pull away the thin, hard jaws from the front of the crab and the fat "spade" from the bottom. Using a heavy chef's knife, cut the body in half lengthwise, then in half again crosswise, cutting through the leg joints to expose as much meat as possible. Add these to the platter. Spoon the crab butter and the fat into a strainer and using the back of a wooden spoon or a plastic spatula, press them through the strainer into another bowl. (Be sure to scrape the bottom of the strainer; much of the crab butter collects there.) You should get about one-quarter cup of strained crab butter. Add the mayonnaise, vinegar and salt and whisk until smooth. The mixture should be about the consistency of stirred yogurt. Taste the mixture; it should be intensely crabby and slightly sharp. If necessary, squeeze in a little lemon juice. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet and spoon 2 to 3 teaspoons of this crab mixture onto the center of each baguette slice. Bake until the crab mixture is puffed and golden and the edges of the baguette are beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Arrange these crab toasts on the platter around the crab pieces or on a separate platter. Careful, they're hot. Serve immediately. This recipe yields 4 servings. Each serving: 447 calories; 1,238 mg. sodium; 68 mg. cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 62 grams carbohydrates; 29 grams protein; 3.40 grams fiber.

Steps:

• Make the dipping sauce. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and some ginger slices. Set aside and allow the flavors to develop. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 egg white (lightly beaten), 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and some salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger, 1 tablespoon finely minced shallot, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. Pick over the crab to remove any stray bits of shell and to break up any large pieces. Fold the crab meat into the egg white mixture. Using a 24-pack of round wonton wrappers, place about 1 tablespoon of the crab mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper. Brush the edges of the wrappers with egg wash (cracked egg with a little water) or plain water and fold wonton in half to a half-moon shape. Pleat the edges between your fingers, making about 4 or 5 pleats. Repeat process with remaining filling and wrappers. In a medium sized flat bottom skillet, heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil over medium-high heat. (Sesame or vegetable oil will work fine too, but do not substitute olive oil for this, as the flavors will not work.) Add the dumplings to the pan and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. Carefully add 1/4 cup water to pan, and cover and steam dumplings for around 3 to 4 minutes. Remove cover and continue cooking until most of the water is evaporated. If any uncooked dumplings remain, clean out the pan and repeat steps 8 and 9. Serve potstickers immediately with dipping sauce.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500°F. Melt butter with oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, shallot, and dried crushed red pepper. Add crabs; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon chopped thyme and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley over crabs. Stir to combine. Place skillet in oven and roast crabs until heated through, stirring once, about 12 minutes.
• Using tongs, transfer crabs to platter. Add orange juice and peel to same skillet; boil until sauce is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over crabs. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon thyme and 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.