For those who aren't aware, Atlantic blue crabs molt their prior year's shell around now leaving just a soft, crunchy, edible coating. You can literally eat the whole crab, claws and all, and boy are they good-- breaded and fried, broiled, but especially grilled over a charcoal fire.
Last night I grilled soft-shell crabs and blackfish fillets, both top picks last week from FreshDirect (the blackfish seems to have sold out), and both were excellent. The simple preparation adapted from the Legal Sea Foods cookbook (which I recommend highly):
- juice of 1 lime
- 4 tbl olive oil
- 1 minced garlic clove
- pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
Dunk the crabs and fillets one at a time in the mixture and well coat them
Grill (or broil if you must)
Crabs should be grilled face up for 3-4 minutes then turned over for 1-2 minutes. They cook quickly. They are delicious served as is, but today's lunch was the last crab on a challah roll with avocado and ripe tomato.
The blackfish fillets will take 15-20 minutes to cook through, depending on thickness. The fish should be just opaque in the middle. Fish that's too flaky is generally overdone.
My wine recommendation? A dry white like Sancerre can't miss, but my personal choice is dry Champagne. We enjoyed the fish and crab last night with Delavenne Brut Rose, a 2010 gold medal winner at the Concours d'Epernay. Although brut, the tinge of raspberry gives slight sweetness in the finish offsetting the acid (lime), savory (garlic), and salt (fish) flavors of the meal. The Delavenne has displaced Veuve as my favorite Champagne, and I'm so glad I bought half a case when WTSO had it on sale a few months ago.
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