NOTE: Soft Shell Crabs are normal crabs who annually shed their hard shells in order to grow larger, and for a short period of time they are full-on edible: body, claws, legs, and all! They are also damn delicious. Once relegated to the late spring and summer months for fresh soft shell crabs, recently the crabs have been farm grown, and if you look in the right places, they can be found either fresh or frozen year round. Black Pasta: is regular pasta that is stained with Squid Ink, making it “ink black” in color, and giving it a perfect light seafood taste. It is imported from Italy, and can be found at most gourmet grocery stores, or Italian food stores. The tasty black pasta here is topped with fresh garlic, onion, and lemon zest flavored Marinara Sauce. If you like seafood, you are going to love this!
Ingredients:
The Pasta:
– 1 pound of Black Pasta (Squid Ink stained, imported from Italy)
The Lemon Marinara Sauce:
– 2 cups chopped Onion
– 2 cups chopped Red Bell Pepper
– 1 cup chopped Celery
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Garlic
– 1/4 cup Olive Oil
– 1 15-ounce can Tomato Sauce
– 1 14.5 ounce can Diced Tomatoes
– 1 6-ounce can Tomato Paste
– 1 cup White Wine
– 1/2 teaspoon Salt
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Oregano Leaves
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Basil Leaves
– 2 tablespoons Capers
– 2 tablespoons Fresh Lemon Zest
– 1/2 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
The Soft Shell Crabs
– 8 Soft Shell Crabs (face and gills removed: ask your fish merchant to do this for you)
– 2 whole Eggs
– 2 cups Flour
– 1 teaspoon Ground Paprika
– 1 teaspoon Salt
– 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
– 1/2 cup Olive Oil
[NOTE: This will make four large servings, with two crabs per person. Or, it can serve eight people, with medium sized portions, one crab per person. Suggestion: serve with a green salad.]
Directions:
Chop the onions, peppers, celery, and garlic, and with 1/2 cup of olive oil, sauté them until they soften up. Don’t over cook them; leave a touch of crunch to them.
While you are sautéing the vegetables, zest and juice the lemons.
In a large sauce pan, to the sautéed vegetables add: the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, capers, fresh lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice.
Over medium high heat, stir the above ingredients together, and bring the sauce to the point where it is starting to boil, then turn it down to low heat to continue to simmer. Stir every few minutes.
Start a pot full of water to boil, for the pasta.
In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir it with a fork or whisk.
In another bowl, crack two whole eggs. Beat the eggs together with a fork or whisk.
When the water boils, put the black pasta in the water and cook until el dente.
As the pasta cooks, in a large frying pan, pour 1/2-cup olive oil, and heat to medium high heat. When you can see currents of heat in the oil, it should be hot enough to brown the crabs.
Take each rinsed soft shell crab, dip them in the egg wash, getting all of the body, the legs, and the claws covered with egg. Dredge each egg-dipped crab in the flour mixture. You can cover the topside with flour by using a spoon to shovel the flour on top of the crab, or carefully flip the crab over. For this phase of the crab handling, a pair of kitchen tongs come in handy (or your hands will be covered in egg and flour—which is a real mess). After each crab is dredged in egg and flour, put them in the frying pan in the hot olive oil. Place them topside down in the frying pan, so that you can see the bottom of the crab facing upward. Each crab should first cook top side down for two minutes, and then flip it over on the other side to cook for an additional three minutes.
[NOTE: What is going to happen is that the flour and egg crust, teamed with the crab’s own soft shell, are all going to get crunchy, so that the whole crab can be easily eaten.]
When the crabs are cooked, the pasta is finished cooking, and the sauce is done, it is time to assemble this incredible dish. Take a desired amount of black pasta and put it on the plate. Cover the pasta with a generous amount of sauce, and place one or two cooked soft shell crabs on a bed of the sauce-covered pasta. Make certain that the claws and legs all spread out, for maximum plating drama!
Prepare to be blown away by this incredible three-layer pasta dish. It combines the awesome soft shell crabs, on top of a bright and fresh tasting lemon / tomato / garlic sauce, and atop out-of-this-world black squid ink stained pasta.
[NOTE: If you can’t find, or are not interested in the black squid ink pasta, this dish is equally incredible on standard linguini, or whatever pasta you like best. A nice angel hair pasta works great with this dish as well, and spaghetti is perfect for this recipe too.]
The Pasta:
– 1 pound of Black Pasta (Squid Ink stained, imported from Italy)
The Lemon Marinara Sauce:
– 2 cups chopped Onion
– 2 cups chopped Red Bell Pepper
– 1 cup chopped Celery
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Garlic
– 1/4 cup Olive Oil
– 1 15-ounce can Tomato Sauce
– 1 14.5 ounce can Diced Tomatoes
– 1 6-ounce can Tomato Paste
– 1 cup White Wine
– 1/2 teaspoon Salt
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Oregano Leaves
– 1/4 cup chopped Fresh Basil Leaves
– 2 tablespoons Capers
– 2 tablespoons Fresh Lemon Zest
– 1/2 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
The Soft Shell Crabs
– 8 Soft Shell Crabs (face and gills removed: ask your fish merchant to do this for you)
– 2 whole Eggs
– 2 cups Flour
– 1 teaspoon Ground Paprika
– 1 teaspoon Salt
– 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
– 1/2 cup Olive Oil
[NOTE: This will make four large servings, with two crabs per person. Or, it can serve eight people, with medium sized portions, one crab per person. Suggestion: serve with a green salad.]
Directions:
Chop the onions, peppers, celery, and garlic, and with 1/2 cup of olive oil, sauté them until they soften up. Don’t over cook them; leave a touch of crunch to them.
While you are sautéing the vegetables, zest and juice the lemons.
In a large sauce pan, to the sautéed vegetables add: the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, capers, fresh lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice.
Over medium high heat, stir the above ingredients together, and bring the sauce to the point where it is starting to boil, then turn it down to low heat to continue to simmer. Stir every few minutes.
Start a pot full of water to boil, for the pasta.
In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir it with a fork or whisk.
In another bowl, crack two whole eggs. Beat the eggs together with a fork or whisk.
When the water boils, put the black pasta in the water and cook until el dente.
As the pasta cooks, in a large frying pan, pour 1/2-cup olive oil, and heat to medium high heat. When you can see currents of heat in the oil, it should be hot enough to brown the crabs.
Take each rinsed soft shell crab, dip them in the egg wash, getting all of the body, the legs, and the claws covered with egg. Dredge each egg-dipped crab in the flour mixture. You can cover the topside with flour by using a spoon to shovel the flour on top of the crab, or carefully flip the crab over. For this phase of the crab handling, a pair of kitchen tongs come in handy (or your hands will be covered in egg and flour—which is a real mess). After each crab is dredged in egg and flour, put them in the frying pan in the hot olive oil. Place them topside down in the frying pan, so that you can see the bottom of the crab facing upward. Each crab should first cook top side down for two minutes, and then flip it over on the other side to cook for an additional three minutes.
[NOTE: What is going to happen is that the flour and egg crust, teamed with the crab’s own soft shell, are all going to get crunchy, so that the whole crab can be easily eaten.]
When the crabs are cooked, the pasta is finished cooking, and the sauce is done, it is time to assemble this incredible dish. Take a desired amount of black pasta and put it on the plate. Cover the pasta with a generous amount of sauce, and place one or two cooked soft shell crabs on a bed of the sauce-covered pasta. Make certain that the claws and legs all spread out, for maximum plating drama!
Prepare to be blown away by this incredible three-layer pasta dish. It combines the awesome soft shell crabs, on top of a bright and fresh tasting lemon / tomato / garlic sauce, and atop out-of-this-world black squid ink stained pasta.
[NOTE: If you can’t find, or are not interested in the black squid ink pasta, this dish is equally incredible on standard linguini, or whatever pasta you like best. A nice angel hair pasta works great with this dish as well, and spaghetti is perfect for this recipe too.]