Oven Roasted Dungeness Crab Recipes

Steps:

• Fill a large stockpot two-thirds full of water. Add enough salt so that the water tastes like seawater. Add half of the sliced lemon and the reserved peels from the garlic and onion, and bring to a boil. Plunge the crabs in the water, in batches if necessary, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the crabs from the stockpot and set aside until cool enough to handle.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• When the crabs are cool enough to handle, remove the top shell and apron and discard. Remove the gills and any transparent cartilage and scrape out any crab fat and rinse crabs under cool running water. Place crabs, bottom side down, on a cutting board and halve lengthwise with a heavy knife.
• Combine 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, the minced garlic, onions, butter, olive oil, crushed red pepper, and black pepper in a large roasting pan. Place the pan in the oven on the lowest rack, and bake, stirring occasionally, until onions and garlic are golden, about 8 minutes. (Do not allow the garlic to burn.) Remove the pan from the oven and add the crab pieces and mix thoroughly so that the crabs are well coated with the garlic and butter mixture. Return the pan to the oven and bake, stirring occasionally, until the crabs are heated through and the garlic mixture is braised onto the shells, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the chopped parsley or cilantro, and serve hot.

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.

Steps:

• Crack the crab reserving the juices and tomalley. Set aside.
• Make the tomalley sauce by pushing the tomalley through a sieve with a wooden spoon into a small pot. Add the chili flakes, thyme, garlic, and lemon juice. Mix in the reserved crab juices and bring to a quick simmer over low heat. Give it a final quick stir and remove the pan from the heat. Pour the tomalley mixture into a small mixing bowl and allow it to cool. (Start roasting the crab once the tomalley sauce is cooling.) As soon as the tomalley sauce feels lukewarm to the touch, add the mayonnaise or aioli along with the salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or thyme, if you like.
• Put a rack in the middle or lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• On the stove, in a large oven-proof saute pan or casserole, heat the butter, olive oil, garlic, thyme, and lemon zest over medium-high heat until hot. Add crab pieces and season with salt, pepper, to taste, and mix well. Put the pan in the oven and cook until the crab is hot throughout and the garlic is golden brown. (Watch carefully; the crab heats very quickly and at 500 degrees F the garlic can burn easily.) Remove the crab from the oven, drizzle with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and scatter the parsley over the top.
• To serve, stack the crab on a platter and drizzle with the tomalley sauce or serve the tomalley sauce in a small bowl and allow your guests to help themselves. Garnish the platter with lemon wedges and slices of garlic-rubbed toast. Serve immediately.

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.

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:

• Preheat oven to 500*.
• In a very large oven-proof bowl, place butter and olive oil.
• Put in oven to melt butter and heat bowl (the bowl needs to be hot when you add the crab).
• Break crab legs apart from body, and break body into 2 sections per crab, but do not remove meat from shell.
• Stir crab into hot butter and olive oil mixture; sprinkle in minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss everything together well.
• Bake for 6 minutes and toss well again.
• Bake another 6 minutes, until crab is heated through and garlic is light brown.
• Remove from oven and top with lemon juice and parsley; toss again.
• Serve from hot bowl with lots of napkins and artisanal French or sourdough bread (such as La Brea Bakery's) to soak up the delicious juices.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500°F.
• Heat butter, oil, and garlic is a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add crabs, 2 at a time, toss well, season with salt & pepper.
• Transfer to a large baking pan. Roast about 12 minutes, tossing well halfway through. Warm butter mixture, add lemon juice and parsley.
• Arrange crabs in a large shallow bowl & drizzle butter mixture over. Serve immediately with chunks of hot bread and a nice white wine.