Hi Everyone,

I have been getting a lot of requests for this recipe since I posted a picture on my Instagram page on Labor Day, so instead of sending out individual responses, I am sharing this recipe with all of you.

Linguine with Blue Claw Crab Sauce

I used to go crabbing off the local pier with my dad when he was alive. It was a lot of fun for me as a child and dad and I got both a suntan and some quality time together.

We used to use chicken legs for bait and then wait and wait and wait for a crab to be interested. Periodically pulling up the trap to see if we were lucky. Some days the bounty was enormous, other days, plan on something else for dinner.     

Since I was a child, I always remember my dad going crabbing and my mother making the most delicious crab sauce with linguine or spaghetti. The entire family would gather around the picnic table lined with newspaper and eat crabs for hours after we had our linguine. We were prepared with our mallets, seafood crackers and picks. It is a little tedious to eat, but the reward was worth it . The most delicious sweet crabmeat.

We had the best summers!   

Since my dad passed, I no longer go crabbing and I buy my crabs along with my other seafood from a local fishmonger (Claws Seafood Market Crab Shack and Clam Bar- Sayville, NY – Great owner and staff. If you live in the area, I recommend you give them a try). 

I was fortunate to be gifted crabs this Labor Day and I had the best time making this meal. It always brings back great memories.

I still have all dad’s traps in the attic and maybe one summer I’ll start crabbing again in his memory.

This Blue Claw Crab Sauce isn’t just for the summer.

I make crab sauce every year as part of the Italian Christmas Eve, “Feast of the Seven Fishes”.

For Christmas Eve, I add a few clams, mussels, shrimp and calamari rings. It is my favorite part of the meal and so delicious.

Try the recipe and let me know what you think and have some patience eating the crabmeat, trust me, it’s worth it.

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I purchased two dozen crabs. I wait until they are a good size and then I buy, clean and freeze most of them for Christmas Eve and some for the rest of the winter when I am craving crab sauce.

I used six crabs today for this sauce. Any less than that and you really don’t get a good flavor. 

They look much better cleaned. It’s a little bit of work but you can have the fish monger clean them if your prefer.

I have been cleaning crabs since I was a child with my mom after my dad’s catch so this job doesn’t bother me.

So here is my recipe for Blue Claw Crab Sauce….

 I hope you enjoy it…

(Obviously, this recipe can be doubled for a holiday meal).

Diane’s Crab sauce

Ingredients:

2 shallots diced

5-6 cloves of garlic (or more) – diced

Olive oil

Parsley- roughly 3 tbsp- finely chopped

1 small can of anchovies with oil

6 cleaned blue claw crabs

2 cans San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes – blended in the food processor

Red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper – to taste

1 cup clam juice

1 cup white wine

Tomato paste (optional)

Directions:

Coat the bottom of an 8 qt pot with olive oil and heat on medium

Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and sauté for 1-2 minutes until translucent.

Add the garlic and sauté an additional 1-2 minutes until golden brown – be careful not to burn

Add one small can of anchovies with their oil and stir to dissolve –

(this does not make the sauce taste fishy. I add it in my white clam sauce as well).

Once dissolved add the parsley and fresh ground black pepper, salt and some red pepper flakes to taste and sauté

Now add the crabs and sauté for about 5-7 minutes until the claws become red. Mix well with the parsley mixture to get the oil and garlic in the nooks and crannies of the crab.

In the meantime, put two cans of san Marzano whole peeled tomatoes in the food processor and blend.

Add the tomatoes, wine and clam juice to the crabs.

Sauté on medium for approx. 20 minutes with the lid a jar. After 20 minutes if the sauce seems too watery add 1 tbsp of tomato paste and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.

Simmer on low until you prepare your pasta (usually linguine for this dish al dente- 7 minutes.-– (I cook the pasta two minutes shy of being done).

Add your pasta to a large pot or saute pan and add the crab sauce, cook for two minutes so the sauce can be absorbed by the pasta. 

Serve with the crabs, or make the crabs a second course

Enjoy !!

 

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Hi everyone,

Here is another recipe that I would like to share with you. A flashback for me.

Back in the day when my sister Linda got married, I was 11 yrs old and missed her terribly once she moved out. Her new home wasn’t that far away from my parents house and on certain days she would pick me up to have a “sister day”, which was shopping and lunch. Just the two of us hanging out and having a lot of fun.

Linda would always find nice restaurants to go to- no fast food for us. One day we went to a French restaurant and I decided to order something I had never tried and it was “Coquille St. Jacques”. I liked all the ingredients individually and together they must be terrific. The dish was scallops and mushrooms in a cream sauce with a crispy topping.

I remember it coming to the table and I was so excited. One bite and I was hooked. I loved it. It soon became one of my favorite entrees.

When my sister Linda suddenly passed away at the age of 25 yrs old, I could never order this dish again because it always reminded me of Linda and how my life would never be the same without her.

Recently, I read an article about updated time honored recipes and there was Coquille St. Jacques on the list. This version adds shrimp to the basic recipe and I decided to give it a try (with a few twists of my own) in Memory of Linda.

It was fantastic. Bob loved it and it brought me back 48 yrs to my “sister days”. I want to share this with you now.

Give it a try. The recipe is very easy and takes about 30 minutes to prepare.

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Thank you for visiting my blog.

If you enjoy the posts, please spread the word and ask your family and friends to subscribe to DishingwithDiane.com 

Once you subscribe, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

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Coquille St. Jacques

Author: Adapted from Coup de Pouce

Serves: 4 portions

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups small scallops
• 2 cups small shrimps shelled and deveined
• 12 oz. (375 g) mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 small onion, chopped –  I used a shallot*
• 1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. butter
• 6 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half cream (or 10%)
• ⅓ cup Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs or panko
• 1/8 tsp cayenne *

Cooks Notes:

*I used a shallot instead of an onion

*I added 1/8 tsp. cayenne for a little kick

*I used heavy cream instead of half an half

Possible variation – add mushroom risotto

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large pan, combine scallops, shrimps, mushrooms, wine, onion, parsley, lemon juice and a pinch of salt
2. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes (don’t overcook)
3. Transfer to a strainer set over a pot to reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid
4. In the pan, melt ¼ cup of butter and add flour, mix well
5. Pour in the reserved liquid and the cream in one shot and cook, whisking for about 3 minutes or until boiling and thick
6. Remove from the heat and add cheese, stirring until melted
7. Add seafood mixture and mix well
8. Transfer in 4 shells
9. In a bowl that can go in the microwave, melt 1tbs. of butter and then add the breadcrumbs, mix well
10. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over shells
11. Cook under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes or until golden and bubbling (watch this carefully- it could burn very quickly).

 

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Hi everyone, 

Before I start making pumpkin bread and beef stew for the fall, I decided to have one of my favorite summer meals once again – mussels.

After the summer, I personally don’t make mussels again until Christmas Eve and the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

There is no set rule for this. It is just what my mother did and I can’t seem to break the family tradition.

I prepared “Drunken Mussels” in garlic, white wine, lemon and butter and then I set out to find a few more mussel recipes to add to my repertoire.

So I bought mussels and mussels and more mussels, and began to test recipes. After 10 lbs of mussels, I wanted to share my results with all of you. I hope you find a recipe that interests you and give it a try.

Here are my recipe choices for Mussels, Four Ways.

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Before you start, here are instructions to properly clean and debeard mussels.

On a personal note. I always soak my mussels in cold water with sea salt for 20 minutes to release some of the sand and grit before cleaning.

Cleaning Mussels (courtesy of serious eats)

“Farm-raised mussels are thankfully quite clean to begin with and don’t require the rigorous individual scrubbing-under-water that wild mussels do, but you’ll still have to give them a quick once over.

Mussels attach themselves to stable surfaces using thin, sticky membranes referred to as “beards.” Again, most farm-raised mussels will come debearded already, but the odds are good you’ll find a couple of stubborn beards left over.

When you find one, grasp it between your thumb and forefinger and pull it downwards towards the hinged-end of the mussel shell. Pull firmly until it comes out and discard. If you have trouble gripping the beard with just your fingers, a dry paper towel can help.

Mussels, clams, and other bivalves tend to gape open when they’re dead, but not all gaping mussels are dead yet. Some of them are just relaxing

If you happen to spot any gaping mussels in your bowl, you can check for signs of life by picking them and squeezing them a few times or knocking them with another mussel, clack clack clack. The mussel should slowly close itself back up. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a dead one on your hands. Toss it in the trash and move on with your life.

And that’s it! Your mussels are ready to cook in any number of recipes.”

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Recipes

Drunken Mussels

I always serve this with spaghetti with the broth from the mussels.

Recipe By: Chef John ( allrecipes.com)

“This seriously delicious drunken mussels recipe is one of the quickest shellfish preparations known to man. Bring a flavorful, wine-based broth to a boil, add mussels and cover; cook until they open, and eat. That’s it!”

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 cups white wine
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded
• 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 slices bread, grilled
• 2 lemon wedges for garnish

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic and let sizzle for about 30 seconds. Season with red pepper flakes and lemon zest, stirring for about 45 seconds.
2. Quickly pour in wine into the pan and season with black pepper. Bring sauce to a boil, stir in mussels, and cover immediately. Shake pot and let boil for 1 minute.
3. Stir mussels, replace cover, and let boil for 2 more minutes. The shells will begin to open. Stir in parsley, cover pot, and cook until all shells are open, 1 to 3 minutes.
4. Serve with grilled bread and lemon wedge.

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Beer-Steamed Mussels with Bacon

Recipe by: (serious eats.com)

Ingredients:

• 4 strips of bacon, chopped
• 1 large shallot, minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, minced (about 4 teaspoons)
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3/4 cup Belgian-style ale, or witbier
• 2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed clean and beards removed
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
• Crusty bread, for serving

Cooks note: I reduce the mustard to 1 tsp. so it wasn’t that strong a flavor.

Directions:

Place the bacon in a large stainless-steel skillet set over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Set bacon aside.

Add the shallots and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots soften and the garlic just begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the thyme to the pan and stir in the beer, making sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the beer begins to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the cleaned mussels to the pan in a single layer. Place a lid on the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, check the mussels. Using a pair of tongs, remove any mussels that have opened and transfer to a large bowl. Cover the pan again and simmer for another 5 minutes, transferring any opened mussels to the large bowl.

When all the mussels are opened and transferred to the bowl, whisk the Dijon mustard into the sauce in the pan. Taste the sauce and season with salt and black pepper. Keep in mind that the bacon, as well as the liquor given up by the mussels, are both salty, so not much additional salt may be needed.

Pour the finished sauce over the mussels, then sprinkle on the reserved bacon, as well as the chopped parsley. Serve the mussels with crusty bread and cold beer.

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Mussels with Spicy Sausage and Tomatoes

* this was a favorite

Ingredients:

2-3 hot sausages – casings removed and broken into 1 inch pieces

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. butter

4-5 garlic cloves- sliced

 1 container cherry tomatoes – sliced in half (or 1 cup san marzano tomatoes- roughly chopped)

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 stalk celery or fennel – diced (optional)

1 tbsp. flat leaf parsley – chopped

1 tsp red pepper chili flakes

Lemon slices

1 cup white wine

1 cup vegetable or chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

2 lbs mussels – cleaned and debearded

Directions:

1. Heat a large stainless steel pan over high heat. Drizzle the olive oil into the hot pan. Add the butter. Add the sausage and cook until browned. Remove from the oil and set aside.
2. ADD the garlic, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, thyme (and celery or fennel-optional). Cook for a few minutes. ADD the wine and cook until the alcohol has evaporated. ADD the broth, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil
3. ADD the mussels, cover and cook until the mussels have opened- approximately 2-4 minutes
4. Plate the mussels in a bowl
5. ADD the heavy cream, sausage and parsley to the sauce and mix well. Pour over the mussels and garnish with lemon slices

Serve with toasted ciabatta bread

Clams and shrimp can also be added to this recipe.

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Mussels Marinara or Fra Diavolo

Recipe by: (tasteloveandnourish.com)

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 4 – 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry, crisp white wine, such as a Pinot Grigio
• 28 ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
• pinch of sea salt and a few cracks of black pepper
• about ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes if you’d like Fra Diavolo
• 4 pounds mussels (I use Prince Edward Island Mussels)
• ½ bunch of fresh parsley
• 1 baguette, warmed, for serving

Cooks note: I used 2 pounds of mussels

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the garlic for about 2 minutes, being careful not to brown it. Add the wine and bring the heat up to high. Bring the wine to a boil and simmer for another two minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the tomatoes (I crush the whole tomatoes out of the can by hand, removing any hard stem end and discarding those. Then, pour the remaining sauce from the can into the pot as well). Add the salt and the peppers.
2. Once the sauce is at a light simmer, add the mussels, give them a stir, raise the heat to medium and cover the pot. Cook for about 6 to 8 minutes, or until all of the mussels have opened, then stir in the parsley.
3. Serve with the warm baguette or over pasta, if desired.

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Oh, and for the record, from Sydney Seafood Market health and safety questions…

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Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far.

 Here in the Northeast we are in the middle of a heatwave. For me it has been wonderful! I love hot weather and it has been in the high 80’s. I wait all year to bask in the warmth of July.

Bob and I are slowly coming out of vacation mode. It’s been tough. We really had a nice relaxing time in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; spending days on the beach and nights eating southern cuisine.

I have a few southern favorites and you know from my last post that “She Crab Soup” is one of them. I hope some of you tried the recipe for the soup.

Now I am going to try and make another favorite dish from vacation,

“Low Country Shrimp Boil”.

Basically it is a combination of shrimp, smokey sausage, sweet corn, onions and new potatoes boiled all together with seafood seasonings. The shrimp boil we had on vacation also included some clams so I am going to add clams to my shrimp boil.

You can really add any other seafood that you and your family enjoy. Some shrimp boil recipes added crabs & crawfish.

But the key is to add ingredients in a certain order.

While doing some research for the recipe, I found out the origin of this dish and I wanted to share it with you…

The story is that a National Guardsman and shrimper named Richard Gay invented the dish in the 1960s in order to feed 100 soldiers during a National Guard exercise and he needed to stretch the shrimp since it was a more expensive ingredient. He named the dish after his hometown of Frogmore, South Carolina, a community on St. Helena Island.

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This dish goes by many different names…

*Low Country Boil or Frogmore Stew in Georgia & South Carolina

*One Pot in Alabama

*Farmers Seafood Boil in the Gulf Coast of Texas

Think of it as the equivalent of a New England clam bake in the Northeast. 

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So I took out my 12 qt. stockpot, bought all of my ingredients and set out to make my very own Low Country Shrimp Boil.

 I know the traditional way to serve this dish is drained from the broth and straight out of the pot on a newspaper lined picnic table but I had a different idea.

I purchased a vinyl “Shrimp & Crab Boil” tablecloth (I couldn’t help myself, I had to have it) while shopping on Amazon one night and served the food in my paella pan.

Loved the tablecloth because it gives the appearance of the newspaper lined picnic table.

I also took out my red plastic fast food baskets I use for the beach, for individual shrimp boil servings; but this time I paired them with a new purchase. I bought newspaper designed food liners.

I love the look when restaurants serve french fries in newspaper, and I was so happy to find the liners.

I came across the liners another night while shopping on Amazon and originally bought them to go along with the french fry serving baskets that you saw in the 4th of July post. 

Now they came in handy and were perfect with the shrimp boil.

Serve this meal with ice cold beverages; either beer, lemonade or sweet tea.

 

Now if I only had a peach cobbler or hand pie for dessert, it would complete my southern meal. I have to work on a recipe for that.

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I looked through a lot of recipes and the recipe I liked the best was from Epicurious Magazine, so here it is. Give it a try and start out with a 12 qt. stockpot.

This recipe serves 10, so adjust your ingredients accordingly to how many guests you are serving. Enjoy!

Low Country Shrimp Boil

YIELD  – 10- 12 servings …ACTIVE TIME – 20 minutes …TOTAL TIME – 45 minutes

Photo of the traditional way to serve this dish on newspaper…

INGREDIENTS

1. For the shrimp boil:
   • 2 lemons, quartered
   • 2 bay leaves
   • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
   • 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
   • 1/2 -3/4 cup crab and shrimp boil seasoning, such as Old Bay, plus more, or 4 (3-ounce) bags Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab Boil (See Cooks’ Note)
   • 4 pounds small new potatoes (about 1 1/2″ in diameter)
   • 2 pounds smoked pork sausage (about 4 links), such as kielbasa, cut into 2″ pieces
   • 2 sweet or yellow onions, peeled, quartered
   • 8 ears of corn, shucked, cut in half
   • 4 pounds fresh large shrimp (31–35 count; preferably wild-caught), unpeeled
2. For the cocktail sauce (optional):
   • 1 cup ketchup
   • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
   • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
   • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
   • Louisiana-style hot sauce, such as Crystal (to taste; optional)
3. For the lemon butter sauce (optional):
   • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
   • 2 tablespoons (or more) fresh lemon juice
   • Louisiana-style hot sauce, such as Crystal (to taste; optional)
4. Special Equipment
   • A large (at least 12-quart) stockpot, preferably with a perforated insert, or 2 large (at least 6-quart) pots

PREPARATION

1. Cook the shrimp boil:
   1. Fill stockpot with 6 qt. water (if using 2 pots, divide ingredients and water between them). Add lemons, bay leaves, salt, peppercorns, and 1/2 cup seasoning, cover, and bring to a rolling boil. Add potatoes, return to a boil, and cook 7 minutes. Add sausage and onions, return to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Add corn, return to a boil, and cook until corn is cooked and potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 5 minutes more.
   2. Add shrimp and cook (no need to return to a boil), stirring gently, until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. Remove insert or drain through a very large colander.
2. Make the cocktail sauce:
   1. Stir ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and hot sauce, if using, in a medium bowl.
3. Make the lemon-butter sauce:
   1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in lemon juice and hot sauce, if using. Taste and add more lemon juice, if needed. Cover and let sit in a warm place.
4. Serve the shrimp boil:
   1. Serve shrimp boil on a newspaper-lined table or large platters. Dust with additional Old Bay, if using. Serve with sauces alongside, if desired.
5. Do Ahead
   1. Cocktail sauce can be made 1 week ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and chill.

Cooks’ Note

Use 3/4 cup Old Bay for a more richly seasoned boil. Choose Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab Boil for a spicier, Louisiana-style boil. If you can’t find small new potatoes, cut larger potatoes into 1 1/2″ chunks.

Artichokes are a great addition to this mix when available. Halve the artichokes and scrape out the choke with a spoon and add them with the potatoes. Make sure they are tender and the leaves pull away easily before adding the shrimp.

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I came across another recipe on the website “Damn Delicious” for a sheet pan shrimp boil, so here is that recipe too.

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I hope you give either one of these recipes a try.
Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Thank you for visiting my blog.

If you enjoy the posts, please spread the word and ask your family and friends to subscribe to DishingwithDiane.com 

Once you subscribe, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.