Many sushi restaurants now have soft shell crab sushi rolls.
When I discovered a few months back that our local seafood shop had them, I knew then that it would not be long before I purchased a box to try a couple of yet to be decided recipes.
Two weeks ago I acquired my first box of frozen crabs. I would loved to have been able to get hold of some fresh crabs but that will never happen due to location, time of year, lunar phase, molting and something to do with unicorn burps.
FYI (Northern Hemisphere) (Australia)
Soft shell crabs are not their own species, despite what many people may think. They're just a regular crab (in the U.S. they're often blue crabs) that have gotten too big for their shells. In order to keep on growing, they have to shed their shell to grow a new, bigger one. This typically happens after the first full moon in May and continues to occur until October.To shed their shell, they form a new "coat" underneath, and then puff themselves up to break their current shell. Once they release themselves, the crab's coat will harden in just a couple of hours into a new shell. It's a very short window for fishermen to catch the crabs during this transition, so instead they're caught a couple of days before molting and kept in a tank until they remove their shell.
At a cost of $22 a box with 10 in the box, although frozen, I saw value in my purchase.
Now to the chosen recipes. I decided to go with Soft Shelled Crabs Meuniere and Panko-Crusted Soft Shelled Crab with Ginger Ponzu Sauce.
Preparing the crabs for cooking involved "cutting off the face", removing the underside flap and the gills (dead man's fingers).
Soft Shelled Crab Meuniere
Milk soaked and dusted with flour.
Ready for pan fry.
Burnt butter and Tarragon Sauce
Panko-Crusted Soft Shelled Crab
with Ginger Ponzu Sauce.
Both plates of crab were delicious. A definite must do for future guests.
What else was delicious tonight?
Lime and Coconut Ice Cream!!!
Was very delish, I must say!
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