Open-Faced Soft-Shell Crab Sandwich

I have a mild obsession with crab, and I’m pretty sure it all started around the age of 5.

I went on a mini crabbing expedition of sorts with my family in the Arabian Sea. It was a day trip really – out on the water on this creaky boat, where we caught these beautiful, huge blue crabs. Thrilling. They were cooked right there on the spot with a ton of spices and butter. I remember breaking them apart, yanking out the soft, sweet flesh, and sopping up the buttery spices with naan. It was a vivid taste memory I will never forget.

I felt like I was in heaven…until around 6 hours later when I became the sickest ever. I literally thought I was going to die. Who knows what was in that water. But I must really love crab because, unlike tequila, the experience never deterred me from future consumption.

Right now, I’m loving soft-shell crab season, which goes from April to October/November. Walking through Chelsea Market, I stopped by The Lobster Place, and they had live ones (frozen ones don’t compare). So I nabbed them, and, though I obviously can clean them, my heart couldn’t take it. I turned my head while they snipped off the eyes, gills, and aprons. At one restaurant, I had to mercilessly rip the claws off of around 150 langoustines in one sitting while they tried to scurry away…it’s hypocritical, and I’m likely in karmic trouble, but I avoid the killing part wherever I can.

The inspiration for this dish is the infamous Singapore black pepper crab. I wanted the peppery flavor without the soy and oyster sauces, so I lightened this with a little white wine and stock and mellowed with some cream to make a thin, sauce that gets spooned over (and absorbed into) thick brioche. Rather than typically deep-frying the soft shells, I kept the crab a little lighter by dredging in a seasoned flour and shallow frying. With the sweetly caramelized onions, the spicy chilies and black pepper, the creamy sauce over crunchy, buttery bread and, of course, the crispy crab on top, this is more meal than sandwich. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 open-faced sandwiches

Crabs:

½ dozen soft-shell crabs, cleaned, rinsed, and dried

2/3 cups rice flour

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 tsps salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 ½ tsps onion powder

2 ½ tsps garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

Oil

Butter

Topping:

3 to 4 tbsps of butter

6 to 8 curry leaves

4 small or 3 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 green chili, minced (you choose based on your heat tolerance: poblano, jalapeno, Serrano, thai)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps black pepper

1/3 cup white wine

1/3 cup vegetable or seafood stock

¼ cup cream

Handful of cilantro, finely chopped

Salt and lemon juice to taste

6 pieces of thick-cut bread, preferably brioche, toasted and kept warm in 200° F oven

Procedure

Preheat oven to 200° F.

In a large bowl, sift together rice flour and cornstarch, and add salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. Make sure the crabs are dry, and dredge in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat a ½“ of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of butter for taste. When the oil is hot and shimmering, place crabs in the skillet undersides up. Cook for about 2 minutes until that side crisps, and then flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and place on a rack on a baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

A few things: 1) There will still be some residual moisture in the crabs so be careful. When they are wet, they pop and sputter. 2) Don’t overcrowd the pan – fry in batches if you must. Steamed, crowded crab is yucky.

Turn the heat down to medium low, and pour off the excess oil from the skillet. Add a few tablespoons of fresh butter. Add in the curry leaves and onions, and cook on medium-low. You want to caramelize the onions slowly to bring out their natural sweetness, not brown them. Stir frequently to make sure cooking is even.

After 10 minutes, add in the chilies, garlic, scallions (reserving some for garnish), and black pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine and scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced. Add in the stock and cream and reduce by half. Add cilantro (again, reserving some for garnish) and salt and lemon juice to taste.

Serve by placing a piece of warm, toasted brioche on a plate or in a bowl. Spoon onions with sauce over the bread, and place a crispy soft-shell crab on top. Garnish with scallions and cilantro.

A Trinidadian BBQ

I recently went to a bbq my husband’s family was throwing, and I thought I’d give you a glimpse into what a Trini bbq looks like. I’m not sure this could really be termed “typical” because his family is definitely comprised of foodies and make sure you have a staggering number of delicious dishes from which to choose.

I was starving when I got there which was such a bad move on my part. West Indian culture (much like many other cultures I could detail…) dictates that the chance an event starts on time is slim to none. I knew this! and still showed up hungry, but, luckily, my mother-in-law snuck me some phulourie.

Typically a street food, these little fried dough balls are made from split pea or chick pea flour mixed with curry spices. They are traditionally served with a thin, fruit chutney or, like here, a tamarind sauce. Deliciously poppable. And really hard to stop eating even when you AREN’T hungry. I quickly devoured these goodies and used all the willpower I could summon to stop, so I could leave room for the serious food ahead.

To paint the scene, we had brought some friends and positioned ourselves strategically on a table in the middle of the deck, so we could partake in all the conversations around us. Ladies were sitting next to us, chatting away and swooning over a pair of 9-week-old twins, the newest additions to the family. Men were out on the lawn in chairs discussing cricket and politics, while the kids were throwing around a football. We were heavily embroiled in a card game, and the trash-talking was reaching a new height at the point the food was brought out. Everything halted, and cards were thrown to the side to make room for the plates…

It was impossible to choose what to eat: jerk chicken, sweet and spicy pork ribs, hot dogs, sausages with onions and peppers, grilled fish…and those are just the proteins! The sides were equally dizzying – regular potato salad, sweet potato salad, lo mein, peas and rice, and callaloo. So the lo mein may be confusing, but it shouldn’t be. Trinidadian cuisine is multi-cultural and has been influenced by the ethnicities that inhabit the island. Chinese and Indian traditions are interwoven into the cuisine yielding dishes like lo mein or even the phulourie, which are really close to pakoras and bhajis in South Asian cuisine.

Of course, no West Indian bbq would be complete without the pepper sauce! The main ingredient of these sauces is the scotch bonnet pepper, which is beyond hot but with such incredibly distinct flavor. And this sauce, which is made by my husband’s uncle (from whom I’m still trying to pry the recipe…), will make your eyes water with the best of them. Although now, he tells me he’s coming with even more thunder and going to grow Bhut Jolokia, the hottest pepper in the world, to make some sauce. Can’t wait to try….a little, tiiiiny drop.

Such a great weekend. I will definitely be cooking some of the authentic, Trinidadian dishes I mentioned above in the coming months…

Peaches w/ Cardamom Streusel & Honey-Vanilla Cream

I headed up to Ellsworth Hill Orchard in Litchfield, Connecticut this last week to do some summer fruit picking and came across these beautiful, juicy Flaming Fury peaches.

The farm was scenic and serene and loaded with peaches, blueberries and several plum varieties. I got completely carried away out in the orchard and was a bit obsessed with finding the perfect peach (to my husband’s dismay in the insanely sweaty heat). All I could think about was pairing sweet peaches with cardamom for a super easy summer dessert.

Cardamom is a really aromatic spice from the ginger family with camphorous notes and the ability to translate equally well in both sweet and savoury dishes. It’s used in everything from Danish pastries to Indian curries to Middle Eastern coffee. Like ginger, it can be pretty overpowering, so I tend to use it sparingly in cooking. My mom and I actually throw the bruised pods into our mugs of green tea to bump up the flavor.

There are green, white and brown varieties of the spice, and, here, I use the green ones. I remove the seeds from the pods and manually grind them with a mortar and pestle. But ground cardamom is fine to use as well.

Baking the peaches really brings out the sweetness, and cardamom, in place of traditional cinnamon, creates a delicious, crunchy streusel to layer on top. It does not get any easier than mixing a few ingredients in a bowl, spooning the crumbly mixture on top of halved peaches, and throwing it all in the oven. I serve this dish with whipped honey-vanilla cream, which balances out the residual tartness in the peaches. A lovely way to indulge in summer’s fruit. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

Baked Peaches:

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp salt

3 tbsps butter, room temperature (but not completely soft) and cut into pieces

4 peaches

Cream:

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsps honey

½ vanilla bean, scraped OR 1 ½ tsps of vanilla extract

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cardamom and salt. Cut in butter using your fingers or a pastry scraper until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Halve peaches on the vertical, remove pits, and scrape off any rough bits. I do this at the last second, so that the peaches don’t turn brown. Also, I leave the skin on as a preference – you can remove the skin if you like.

Arrange peaches in a buttered baking dish. Top with streusel topping and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool briefly.

Whip the heavy cream by hand or by using a hand or stand mixture. Before it is fully whipped, add in the vanilla and honey, so that it becomes evenly distributed (but not over whipped!).

Serve peaches warm with a side of the honey-vanilla cream.

Phulourie

Phulourie, a snack or side dish in the West Indies, are little, fried dough balls that are made from split pea or chick pea flour. They are mixed with garlic and curry spices and are traditionally served with a thin, fruit chutney or tamarind sauce. Although often labeled a street food, they may be served at all types of occasions.

Callaloo

Callaloo, the ingredient, is a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach that comes from the taro plant, also known as the dasheen bush. Callaloo, the dish, is a soup-like side dish served in West Indian culture, that is made with callaloo, okra, coconut milk, garlic and peppers and may include salt pork, pumpkin, crab, other seafood, and other aromatics.

Ethiopian Nit'ir Qibe

Ethiopian Nit’ir Qibe

When I saw this article on ghee, I thought it might be interesting to talk about how to clarify butter. Clarified butter has long been synonymous with traditional Indian cooking, a delicious form of fat in which to fry up spices or brown onions. What was interesting in the article, though, was the inclusion of the spices in the bottled ghees, not typically done in an Indian household. Spicing clarified butter is actually an Ethiopian tradition, the resulting fat called nit’ir qibe.

Clarifying butter is relatively simple; butter is cooked at a low temperature until all of the water has evaporated and the milk solids have settled at the bottom. Decanted or strained, this liquid now becomes an excellent cooking agent, which, unlike whole butter, can withstand high temperature cooking (and is also great for dairy intolerance since almost all of the milk solids are gone).

In nit’ir qibe, butter is slowly melted. Once the foam subsides, certain herbs and spices are added and gently cooked in the butter at a low temperature for about 20 minutes. The clarified butter starts to take on the character of the spices, infused and aromatic – it’s completely delicious. The smell alone as I make it drives me nuts. It also keeps incredibly well, lasting in a sealed container in the fridge for about a month.

Garlic, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric, cardamom, sacred basil…all of these are typical in a spiced Ethiopian butter. Sometimes red onions are included, sometimes not. I’ve also seen dried oregano in certain homemade versions. This is again one of those traditions that differs from household to household – the secret recipe guarded for only the cook in the house to know.

Unlike ghee, this delicate and expensive infusion is not used for sauté purposes. It’s actually a finishing agent, added to an Ethiopian stew at the end of the cooking process to elevate and warm the flavor. I love to do a simply seared fish and spoon a bit of nit’ir qibe on top to lightly spice it. And that’s the beautiful thing about this: if you aren’t in the mood for something heavily spiced, this is a more subtle approach.

Lovely on plain rice. Warmed, a decadent dip for shellfish. Delicious on morning breakfast toast. Bumps up a grilled steak. The uses are endless…

Quick Bread with Bacon, Medjool Dates & Nigella Seeds

I was reading this article in the New York Times on what the French call a cake salé, and it inspired me to create my own exotic version. A cake salé is close to what we call a quick bread or a quick loaf in America (think zucchini bread, cornbread, or even muffins).

The main ingredients of any quick bread are flour, baking powder (and/or soda), fat, eggs, and liquid; the flavor is really up to the imagination. It’s chemically leavened, so it’s much faster to make than traditional bread, which requires a whole process leavening with yeast. This loaf is incredibly easy to make and really versatile. I’ve been serving it warm for breakfast, but it would also make a delicious lunch paired with a simple salad.

I mentioned to a girlfriend the inclusion of dates in this bread, and I got a wrinkled nose reaction. She believed dates to be the shriveled up nonsense that’s in trail mix. At that point, she hadn’t tried Medjool dates, which are amazing – plump, sweet, and creamy with thick, soft flesh and a taste closer to caramel and honey than to fruit. (She’s now addicted). They are also incredibly nutrient dense, high in fiber and an excellent source of potassium. They are eaten throughout the Middle East, to break a fast or served with a thick, Arabic coffee at the beginning of a meal.

For this recipe, I couldn’t get the idea of bacon out of my mind. I’m such a fan of sweet and savoury – it’s a richness of flavor that can’t be matched – and bacon tastes fantastic with a hint of sweetness. With the caramelized leeks, the honey of the dates, and the slightly bitter, thyme-like bite of the nigella seeds, the flavor of the bread is really well-rounded – great as a stand alone but also wonderful as an accompaniment to a larger meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 8½” x 4¼” x 2¾” loaf pan

4 slices bacon, chopped

3 tbsps butter

1 leek, white and light green only, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps nigella seeds

salt

3 dates, skinned and pitted*

¼ cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 ¼ cups flour

1 ½ tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add bacon and cook until just starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to cool.

Heat another, clean skillet on low. Add butter. When foam subsides, add leeks and stir to coat completely with the fat. Add nigella seeds and a few pinches of salt to draw out the moisture. Cook on low, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes until the leeks are well caramelized. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to bowl with the bacon.

Combine dates, oil, eggs, and milk in a blender or food processor. Blend for 30 seconds on low or pulse until dates are finely chopped. This helps to distribute the dates in the batter. The goal isn’t to have them pureed, just chopped a bit more finely, so they don’t clump in one place in the batter. Add this liquid to bacon and leeks, and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and whisk so that all of the ingredients are well combined. Fold in the liquid to the dry ingredients using a spatula. Do not overmix. You just want everything to come together. It should be a wet, sticky, clumpy dough – like muffin batter.

Pour batter into a greased 8 ½ “x 4 ½” loaf pan. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

* To remove the skin from the dates, simply heat water to a boil. Pour over dates and let sit for 1 minute. Carefully remove from the water, and peel off skin – it should slide off easily.

Freekeh with Summer Squash and Brown Butter

I was having lunch with a Lebanese girlfriend of mine recently when she pointed out freekeh on the menu. I had never heard of it, so, of course, I had to order! It was served like a pilaf to accompany a fish, tasted like a nuttier, slightly smoky brown rice, and had a toothsome texture.

After some research, I was really surprised that it’s not more well known. Freekeh is a roasted green wheat and can be found throughout Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It’s an incredibly healthy whole grain, comparable (if not superior) to quinoa, a rich source of nutrients with high fiber and protein. It’s harvested young and then roasted in the fields over an open fire, giving it that smoky quality.

The mixed summer squash at the Union Square Greenmarket looked too shiny and beautiful to resist the other day, and I thought it would pair well with the freekeh. I roast the squash off here with some sweet cherry tomatoes and prepare the freekeh similarly to rice. The coriander and cinnamon work really well with the sweetness of the squash and the smokiness of the freekeh, and the pine nuts are great for texture. This is so delicious I’ve given up my carnivorous ways for a few days, snacking on it at intervals.

And the pièce de résistance? Nutty, glistening, warm brown butter. I love to use brown butter in place of regular butter in a dish like this or even in breads and cakes; it really elevates and deepens the flavor.

Freekeh also goes by the name frik, farik or even roasted green wheat, so if you are shopping for it, I would ask by all names. I picked up my freekeh at Sahadi’s on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, but I know a number of the Middle Eastern specialty shops in the area carry it. Kalustyan’s also carries it in store and online.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

2 cups freekeh, whole (not cracked)

1 lb mixed summer squash, medium dice

¾ cup cherry tomatoes, whole

olive oil, salt, & pepper

2 ½ tbsps canola oil

1 onion

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp white pepper

1 scallion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

4 tbsps brown butter *

handful of parsley, chives, and/or cilantro, chopped

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Pour freekeh in a bowl and pick through for any stones or off pieces. Rinse freekeh with several changes of water until the water runs clean. Cover the freekeh with fresh water and soak for a half hour. Strain off all excess water.

Combine diced squash and tomatoes in a bowl. Lightly coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15-20 minutes until soft but still with a bit of firmness.

Heat a pot or a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add canola oil. When hot, add onions and coat with the fat. Add coriander, cinnamon, white pepper and a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. You just want to sweat out the onions until they are translucent, so be careful the heat isn’t too high or they will start to brown.

When the onions are translucent, add scallions and garlic. Cook for one minute, and then add freekeh. Toast the freekeh in the pot, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The freekeh should become aromatic.

Add the vegetable or chicken stock, and bring up to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, remove cover, and let stand uncovered 5 minutes.

Toss in the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts, and brown butter. Add chopped herbs and adjust seasoning as necessary.

* Brown butter is really easy to make, but it has to be watched. Simply heat the butter in a pan over medium low. Once the foam starts to subside, watch the color of the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pan. They should turn brown, and the butter should take on the smell of toasted hazelnuts. At that point, remove immediately from the heat by pouring into another container. The solids go from brown to black quickly, so it’s important to stop the cooking process as soon as the hazelnut stage is achieved. Also, I like to scrape the solids off the pan into whatever I’m cooking – there’s a ton of flavor there.

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