"Holy CRAB!"

My newest discovery in the city, Diana's Seafood, is my new hot list entry, thanks to my father who introduced it to me.  Oysters galore for less than $2 each.  After last week's visit, I had to go back for more.  And then there were those enticing soft shell crabs...

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich


My experience with soft shell crabs has always been in Japanese cuisine, I never thought I would actually cook them one day.  The fresh ones only come once a year while they have molted the hard shells and the new shells are still soft and completely edible.  They are in season now, so lucky me and not so lucky for the poor crabs.

These cute little crabs look oh so innocent sitting on a bed of ice at the store.  I bought them unknowing of what is in store for me.  First of all, they turn out to be very much alive. An excellent web video showed me how to "clean" them, what really happened was I had to terminate them just before cooking.  There was some minor squealing, from me, as I trimmed off the eyes and the apron when its legs started to move.  It was a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Back to the good part, Lidia's dressing was remarkably simple since I toasted the garlic instead of roasting them in the oven.  We were hungry.  Even though during that time, 18 oysters were shucked and consumed.  We had Kumamoto, Virginica and Shigoku.  Virginica was added to our new favourite - crisp and meaty.  The Shigoku, not so much, just too fishy.

Cooking the flour-and-cayenne pepper-dusted soft shell crabs was so easy! 5 minutes over medium heat and they were ready.  I was light-handed on the dusting this time but a touch more flour will probably give it more punch.  Final score: 9/10

I think I have gone to seafood heaven! Two weeks in a row and two incredible brunches, I am a happy man.

http://www.dianasseafood.com/
http://video.about.com/fishcooking/Clean-and-Cook-Soft-Shelled-Crabs.htm
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1127