Recipes: Steamed Alaska King Crab & Spinach with Garlic and Preserved Lemon

For the last five days, I’ve been celebrating my birthday. I’ve indulged myself, and been indulged by my friends and husband. My house looks ravaged (indulgence=no cleaning). My blog’s been neglected (indulgence=no writing).

Now it’s Monday, and time to pick up the pieces. The dishwasher’s humming, and a load of clothes is in the washer. I’ve taken out the crab shell laden garbage.


The crab shells are from one of my birthday indulgences: live Alaska king crab.

I’ve only ever seen live king crab in Alaska, which is a pity because it’s the best tasting seafood I’ve ever had in a life of searching out the world’s finest foods from the sea. When fresh, Alaska king crab tastes sweet and salty, with a firm, meaty texture. Frozen king crab legs don’t do justice to the glorious flavor of fresh king crab.

When I was young, we used to buy live king crab off the dock: $5 for small crabs (5-8 pounds) and $10 for large crabs (8-12 pounds). In those days, boiling up a mess of Alaska king crab was one of my favorite company dinners. That was before over-fishing threatened king crab stocks and king crab fishing became a highly regulated industry, as it is today.

Now we’re lucky to find live king crab and rarely pay less than $50 for one small crab. In the old days I used to cook with king crab as an ingredient (and still make crab cakes out of rare leftovers). Now, it’s so expensive that I only serve unadulterated crab, perhaps with a little melted butter on the side.

Steaming crabs is a recent innovation in our house. For years, I followed my mother’s lead and boiled live crab (guts and all, for better flavor). Then I read about a lobster taste test in which steamed lobsters beat out boiled, so decided to try steaming crab. As with the lobster I’d read about, steamed crab has better, more concentrated flavor than when it’s boiled. Call me a steaming convert.

After I cooked and cleaned the crab, I put it in the refrigerator to chill. That meant making space in my woefully overcrowded refrigerator. When I jerked the bag of Full Circle Farm spinach from where it was precariously balanced on the top shelf, a jar of preserved lemons came tumbling down on me.

Inspired by the falling jar of lemons, I added some to the spinach I was serving that night as a side dish. The tart, salty lemons were a wonderful addition to the earthy taste of spinach. This easy recipe is a keeper.

Steamed Alaska King Crab
Steaming crab couldn’t be easier. Put an inch or so of water in the bottom of a large stockpot, pop in a steamer, bring the water to a boil, put the live crab on the steamer, and steam it for 15 – 25 minutes, depending on the size of the crab. When the crab is cool, clean it by discarding the gills and innards. Separate the legs and break the body in half, using paper towels if needed to protect your hands from the spiny shells. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with little bowls of melted butter, and nut crackers or kitchen shears.

Spinach with Garlic and Preserved Lemon
Serves 4

2 large bunches of spinach
2 Tbsp. garlic
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. harissa or 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 cup minced preserved lemon peel (peel from 1 preserved lemon) or 1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon peel (see NOTE)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Wash the spinach in two changes of water to remove all the grit. Remove and discard the stems and tear any large leaves into pieces.

Sauté the garlic, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in olive oil over medium heat until the garlic softens. Do not let the garlic brown. Stir in the harissa.

Add the spinach, and stir until it wilts (you may need to add the spinach a little at a time so it fits in the pan). When all the spinach is wilted, remove it from the heat, taste and add salt, pepper, and harissa, as needed. Stir in the minced preserved lemon peel and lemon juice and serve immediately.

NOTE: Preserved lemons are often used in Moroccan cooking. They are tart, salty, and very easy to make. If you use my recipe for preserved lemons, you’ll have to let the lemons cure for at least a week before you can use them. If you don’t want to bother making them, you may buy preserved lemons at Middle Eastern markets, specialty stores, and online. To use preserved lemon, remove it from the brine in which it is swimming and rinse it well. Remove the flesh, and any stringy bits from the inside of the peel. The peel is now ready to use.

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Preserved Lemon Recipes
Preserved Lemons, Candied Lemon Peels, and Sparkling Mint-Lemonade (I make preserved lemons, candy the extra lemon peels, and use leftover syrup for sparkling lemonade.)
Moroccan Salmon, Fennel-Preserved Lemon Salad, & Sweet Potato Oven Fries (I deconstruct a Moroccan tagine, and use preserved lemons to make Preserved Lemon Aioli and in a fennel and red pepper salad.)
Moroccan Eggplant Salad with Preserved Lemon (Susan flavors eggplant salad with preserved lemons, and makes a preserved lemon martini).
To find more preserved lemon recipes, Food Blog Search is a great tool.
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This is my entry for Antioxidant Rich Foods/Five-a-Day Tuesdays hosted by Sweetnicks.

Seven Seafoods 2007: Recipe for Garlic Roasted Crab (Καβούρι με Σκόρδο στο Φούρνο)

I’ve always lived near the sea and my favorite meals come from its bounty.

When I was a kid we regularly dug clams; littlenecks (Protothaca staminea) and razors (Siliqua patula) were our favorites. We feasted on salmon my dad brought home from fishing expeditions with his friends. When we went out to dinner, I only ordered shrimp.

I was happiest when my dad brought out his lantern and hip waders because it meant we soon would have Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) for dinner. Its sweet delicate meat is one of my favorite foods.

I’d been of the opinion that the best way to eat Dungeness crab is unadulterated. Crab cakes with the leftovers are fine, but when it is fresh, plain boiled crab was my preparation of choice.

Then I had Garlic Roasted Crab at Tra Vigne, a restaurant in St. Helena, California, the heart of California wine country. The crab came ready cracked, and was richly dressed with garlic, butter, and parsley. It was as good as any crab I’d ever had before; maybe better.

I interrogated the waiter about how the chef made Garlic Roasted Crab, and investigated further on the internet when I returned home. Although I still love plain boiled crab and eat it often, Tra Vigne’s Garlic Roasted Crab now appears regularly on our dinner table.

Because the garlic is roasted, it does not overwhelm the sweet flavor of Dungeness crab. I stir in parsley shortly before the crab comes out of the oven to give the parsley a little crunch and mute its herby flavor. The combination of the ingredients’ tastes and textures enhances the crab’s naturally good flavor, something I would not have thought possible before I visited Tra Vigne.

You don’t need silverware to eat Garlic Roasted Crab, but you do need plenty of napkins!

Garlic Roasted Crab (Καβούρι με Σκόρδο στο Φούρνο)
Serves 2 as a main course and 4 as an appetizer

Adapted from Tra Vigne Restaurant
Dungeness crab should be alive when it goes into the boiling water; the crab has more flavor if you don’t clean it before you cook it.

2 live Dungeness crabs
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh garlic
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Put in the live crabs. Cook for 12 minutes. (The crab is only partially cooked because it will be oven-roasted; it takes 15 - 20 minutes, depending on the size, to fully cook Dungeness crab.) Remove the crab from the boiling water, and run it under cold water to cool it down. When the crab is cool enough to handle, remove the back, gills, and guts. With cold running water, carefully rinse off any guts that are sticking to the crab meat. (The crab may be made ahead to this point and refrigerated for 24 hours).

Preheat the oven to 500 °F.

Break the crab bodies in half down the center. With your hands, carefully remove the legs and claws, leaving the bodies intact. Use your hands to break the bodies in half again (in other words, the full body of each crab is broken into four pieces). Using a nut cracker or lobster cracker, carefully crack open each section of the crab legs and claws; try to keep each leg and claw in one piece. Put the crab in a large roasting pan.

Melt the butter. Drizzle the butter and olive oil over the crab, and sprinkle it with minced garlic, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Thoroughly toss the crab with the other ingredients so that all the pieces of crab are coated.

Roast the crab for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the parsley over the crab and toss again. Return the crab to the oven for 2 minutes.

Place the crab on a large serving platter and serve immediately with napkins and an empty bowl for the shells.

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This is my entry for Think Spice, created and hosted by Sunita of Sunita's World.