All summer long, I’ve dreamed of flying to Maine for the weekend: walking along the beaches and eating just-caught seafood three times a day without ever putting on shoes. Since I’m running short on time – can you believe the summer is more than half over? – I figured I’d make the coast come to me. It was time to try a crustacean I’d never brought into my kitchen before: crab legs.
To be honest, I’ve never been entirely sure how to eat crab legs, much less cook them. But I figured if anyone could show me how in a clean, simple way, it was Yvette Van Boven. Her series of Home Made books celebrate seasonal eating with a beautiful, clean simplicity. Her new book, Home Made Summer, is no exception: chock-full of recipes from preserved lemons to Negroni popsicles and even grilled pork chops. Her dishes aren’t complicated or fancy. Her brilliance is in the flavors and ingredients she chooses. Most recipes in her books have at least one ingredient that will have you scratching your head and trotting around town to four different grocery stores. But hey, sometimes you need to break out of your comfort zone.
When I decided to make Van Boven’s crab legs, I was delighted to see that there weren’t many ingredients to track down at all – except crab legs! Fortunately, we have two fantastic seafood shops in town. You can find precooked crab legs at Bob’s Seafood in U. City or the Whole Foods in Brentwood on a regular basis. Even better, the fishmongers at both spots are more than happy to give you a few tips on eating them: “Break them at the bottom, take some kitchen shears and cut along the middle, then break ’em open.” Got it.
Lucky for me, the recipe was as easy as it sounded. Once you’ve given each leg a nice little whack with a hammer (A mallet probably would’ve been better, but my regular ol’ hammer got the job done.), you just toss them in a sauce of butter, oil, garlic and fresh herbs. The buttery bath reheats the legs for a quick five minutes, and just like that – dinner. Grill some bread brushed with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and rub with garlic as soon as you take it off the heat. Eat this dish with salad and bread – that’s all.
There it is, a trip to the coast in the ease of a few minutes and no airport security. Now eating the legs, well, that was a different story. What a mess!
Crab Legs with Garlic Butter Serves 4 (6 to 8 as a starter)
16 crab legs (You can buy these precooked at your local fishmonger.)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup good olive oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
½ handful fresh tarragon (This is mandatory; make a detour if necessary.)
1 lemon, quartered
• Place the crab legs on a wooden cutting board and crush them somewhat using a hammer, just enough to allow the sauce to seep in and make them easier to eat.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, pour in the oil and add the garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the herbs.
• Now add the crab legs; they probably won’t fit all at once, so heat them in batches, turning them in the butter to coat. (Heat the second batch while you devour the first.) Cover the pan and heat the crab legs about 5 minutes, until they’re warmed through.
• Spoon the crab legs out of the pan and transfer them to a large plate. Serve with the lemon wedges.
Reprinted with permission from Stewart Tabori & Chang What would you eat on a summer trip to Maine? Let us know in the comments below for a chance to win a copy of Home Made Summer by Yvette Van Boven. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column. And now, we’d like to congratulate Sue, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won her a copy of Fresh by Tyler Florence. Sue, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew.
This article appears in July 2013.