Soft Shell Crabs With Tomato Compote Recipes

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in saute pan and add shallot and garlic. Cook gently for about two minutes or until the shallot has softened. Add tomatoes and basil and stir until juices are released.
• Turn up heat and cook until tomatoes are somewhat dry. Remove from heat, swirl in the butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
• Rinse capers, dry them and sprinkle them with flour. Heat peanut oil and fry capers until light golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels. Discard oil.
• Prepare crabs. Dip crabs in milk, then in flour, season with salt and pepper. Heat three tablespoons peanut oil in large skillet and saute the crabs, starting with the shell side, the crab's top side, down first, for a few minutes. Turn over and saute for one and a half to two minutes on underside. Drain on paper towels.
• Serve crabs on heated individual plates. Divide the tomatoes among four plates and place crabs on top. Sprinkle with the fried capers and garnish with parsley or basil leaves and lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, turning, until browned and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and break the slices in half.
• Whisk the flour and 1 tablespoon Old Bay in a shallow bowl. Season the crabs with salt and pepper, then dip the crabs in the seasoned flour to coat on both sides.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until foamy. Immediately add the crabs and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with more Old Bay.
• Assemble the sandwiches: Spread some of the mayonnaise mixture on 4 slices of toast. Top each with lettuce, tomato, some bacon and a crab. Spread the remaining mayonnaise mixture on the 4 other slices of toast and place on top of the sandwiches. Gently press down on each sandwich and cut in half. Serve with pickles.

Steps:

• Season crabs with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, shaking off excess. Set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and saute the crabs until soft, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove the crabs and set aside. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add the capers and white wine. Cook until wine has reduced to about 1/2. Swirl in the butter and the chopped chives. Season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer crabs to a plate, spoon sauce over the crabs and garnish with Essence.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Steps:

• Fill a large skillet with enough canola oil to cover the bottom and place over medium-high heat until sizzling hot (see Know-how, page 100). Combine the flour and cornmeal in a shallow bowl or plastic bag, season with salt and black pepper to taste and cayenne, and stir or shake to mix. Place the buttermilk and hot sauce in a shallow bowl and stir to combine. One at a time, dust the crabs lightly on both sides with the flour mixture or shake in the bag, then dip into the buttermilk mixture and back into the flour mixture to coat evenly, shaking off any excess flour.
• Place the crabs in the hot oil and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until golden brown and crispy. Line a platter with a brown paper bag.
• Remove from the skillet, drain on the platter, and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Serve warm topped with slices of Salty Tomato Butter and lemon wedges to squeeze over the crab.
• Place the butter, tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined and blended, stopping to scrape down the the bowl several times as you go. Transfer the mixture to a piece of wax paper, roll it into a log 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour, or for up to 1 week. Slice into thin rounds as needed.
• For a more traditional preparation, serve the crabs with Horseradish Remoulade (page 117), Herb Tartar Sauce (page 100), or Spicy Cocktail Sauce (page 283) in place of the Salty Tomato Butter.
• Soft-shell crabs are a seasonal specialty and point of pride on the Outer Banks, and I fell in love with them. My friend Della took me to the little town of Manteo, North Carolina, to go soft-shell crabbing. It was such an adventure! We got on the boat before sunrise and headed out to sea, where the crabbers located their big metal traps and pulled up the crabs. Back on shore, they dusted the freshly caught crabs in cornmeal, sautéed them in a little oil and butter, and served them to us with lemon wedges. I was blown away by the simple preparation and amazing flavors-the brine of the seawater and the sweetness of the crabmeat were incredible together.
• I think people often assume that soft-shell crabs are a separate variety; actually, they are blue crabs that are caught and eaten just after they molt their hard outer shells, so the entire crustacean, "soft shell" and all, is edible. During soft-shell season, usually May and June, "busters"-crabs that are in the process of molting-seek refuge in protected areas and begin taking in lots of water so their bodies swell up and eventually crack open their outer shells. The males are called jimmies, and the females are she-crabs, sooks, or sallies, depending on how fully developed they are. The window of time for harvesting individual soft-shell crabs is very short; there is about a four-day period between the time a blue crab sheds its outer shell and the soft shell beneath it begins to harden.

Steps:

• With a knife, cut away the skin of the lemon, removing every trace of pith and exposing the fruit. Cut between the membranes, releasing the lemon segments. Cut the segments into small dice. You will need 1 tablespoon.
• To clean the soft-shell crabs, cut off the gills (a cotton-like membrane under each side of the head) by lifting the sides of the upper shell and snipping with scissors. Cut off the turned under tail as well as the head directly behind the eyes. Scrape out the inside through the opening at the head with a knife, and rinse the opening under cold water. Dry the crabs with a paper towels and refrigerate until needed.
• Dredge each crab in flour, shaking off any excess. In a large pan over medium heat, warm 3 tablespoons of butter. Add the crabs bottom side up and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper. Remove, keep warm, and set aside.
• Add the remaining butter to same pan, and heat until golden brown. Add the tomato confit, capers, lemon, parsley, shallots, and olives and cook until mixture is warmed through.
• To serve: Place two crabs on center of plate. Add the vegetables on top of crabs and around the plate.

Steps:

• Soak crabs in a bowl of buttermilk.
• In a deep fryer or saucepan, heat 4 inches of oil to 375 degrees.
• Whisk together cornmeal and flour, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove crabs from buttermilk, letting excess drip back into bowl. Coat crabs evenly in the cornmeal mixture. Working in batches, fry until golden brown and crisp all over, turning if needed, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. While warm, season with salt. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Steps:

• Whisk flour, salt, and pepper; place on a dinner plate. Dredge 2 soft-shell crabs in flour mixture, shaking off excess (make sure crabs are completely coated).
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. The oil should be very hot but not smoking. Place flour-coated crabs, back side down, in sauté pan; reduce heat to medium if pan starts to smoke. Sauté crabs until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes (do not stand too close to pan; crabs tend to spatter during cooking). Turn crabs over, and cook 2 minutes more.
• Add 1 tablespoon butter and a large pinch of parsley to skillet. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over crabs. Keep warm in a low oven. Repeat process until all the crabs are cooked.

Steps:

• Make soft-shelled crabs:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Dip each crab in milk and them lightly coat both sides with flour. Heat butter and oil together in a large, oven proof (no plastic handles) pan over medium heat. Add crabs and sauté until crispy and golden, about 4 minutes. Place pan in preheated oven and cook 3 more minutes. Transfer crabs to paper toweling to absorb oil. Set aside and keep warm.
• Make warm herb vinaigrette:
• In a large bowl, combine shallots, basil, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. After these ingredients are incorporated, add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• When ready to prepare dish, warm the vinaigrette in a sauce pan over high heat, removing from stove when it begins to simmer.
• Make wilted spinach:
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add spinach and sauté 4 minutes, until wilted. Drain liquid.
• Serve:
• Place wilted spinach on one side of four individual dinner plates. Arrange two soft-shell crabs over each mound of spinach, overlapping one over the other. Spoon tomato vinaigrette over crabs and around the sides of the plate.
• To properly clean a soft-shelled crab:
• Peel back the pointed part of the shell and scrape away the gills from each side. Using sharp scissors, cut off the head and carefully squeeze out the green bubble behind the eyes. Next, bend back the "apron," the thin piece that folds under the crab. Twist the apron until it breaks off, removing the intestinal vein at the same time.

Steps:

• Clean each crab. Lift one pointed side of top shell and remove the gills by pulling them out. Put top shell back down and repeat on other side. On the bottom side remove tail flap by twisting and pulling off. Using a pair of scissors, remove the face by cutting behind the eyes. Rinse the crabs thoroughly with cold water. Dry on paper towels.
• Heat oil in a deep fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees F). In a shallow dish, whisk together the egg and milk using a fork. In a separate bowl, stir salt and pepper into the flour. Lightly salt the crab, then dip in the flour, dip in the egg, then in the flour again.
• Carefully place crabs into the deep-fryer. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden brown on one side. Carefully turn over, and cook until golden on the other side. Drain on paper towels. Serve as soon as they are cool enough to eat. You can eat the whole crab.