Photo: Oven-Roasted Crab "Buon Natale" Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 (1 to 1 1/2 pound) Dungeness crabs or 2 (2 pound) crabs, cooked, cleaned (reserve juices and tomalley)
Tomalley Sauce:
- Reserved tomalley
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Reserved crab juices
- 1 cup mayonnaise or aioli
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (about 4 to 5 lemons)
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 3 tablespoons roughly chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
- Lemon slices or wedges, for garnish
- 4 to 8 slices crusty bread, toasted, rubbed with garlic cloves and drizzled with olive oil
Directions
Crack the crab reserving the juices and tomalley. Set aside.
Make the tomalley sauce by pushing the tomalley through a sieve with a wooden spoon into a small pot. Add the chili flakes, thyme, garlic, and lemon juice. Mix in the reserved crab juices and bring to a quick simmer over low heat. Give it a final quick stir and remove the pan from the heat. Pour the tomalley mixture into a small mixing bowl and allow it to cool. (Start roasting the crab once the tomalley sauce is cooling.) As soon as the tomalley sauce feels lukewarm to the touch, add the mayonnaise or aioli along with the salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or thyme, if you like.
Put a rack in the middle or lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
On the stove, in a large oven-proof saute pan or casserole, heat the butter, olive oil, garlic, thyme, and lemon zest over medium-high heat until hot. Add crab pieces and season with salt, pepper, to taste, and mix well. Put the pan in the oven and cook until the crab is hot throughout and the garlic is golden brown. (Watch carefully; the crab heats very quickly and at 500 degrees F the garlic can burn easily.) Remove the crab from the oven, drizzle with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and scatter the parsley over the top.
To serve, stack the crab on a platter and drizzle with the tomalley sauce or serve the tomalley sauce in a small bowl and allow your guests to help themselves. Garnish the platter with lemon wedges and slices of garlic-rubbed toast. Serve immediately.
Review This Recipe
You must be logged in to review this recipe.
or Sign Up to Review
Newest Ratings and Reviews
Read all 6 reviews
By tina_leoni_10015072
Elk Grove, CA
on December 27, 2011
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
My family LOVED this crab that I made for Xmas dinner. I got the idea to make roasted crab this year because we went to a restaurant on Crockett, CA called The Dead Fish for Thanksgiving and we had roasted crab. Everyone thought this was even better, which is a bigg compliment. The part of the recipe that was the actual roasting of the crab was easy, delicious, and very impressive. However, I only gave this 4 stars because the tomalley sauce (sp? was a pain in the booty to make and no one liked it except my 6 year old daughter (go figure. It was difficult to clean the crab and save the juice and tomalley and then strain it and make the sauce. After all tht work, the sauce tasted too strong and fishy. Maybe I got too much of the tomalley or maybe it's just not our taste, but I would just skip that part all together next time and save my self time, effort, and money.
By bay area gal
on December 26, 2011
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
We made this for Christmas dinner tight. Meh... I think I must be crab purist because I didn't think this was anything special: not good, but not horrible either.
Aioli was too rich to eat with all the crab; crab tasted best all on its own.
By pamelarmoore_75...
Vacaville, CA
on December 11, 2011
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
Out of this world. OMG. I am having a dinner party tomorrow and want to fix this. So, I did a trial run this evening with one fresh crab and words cannot express how exciting this recipe is and how easy it was to make. My guests are going to say wow tomorrow. I am also going to fix jumbo prawns with the crab. This is a new family meal for Christmas Eve...we have always had lasagna. The tomalley sauce really brought out flavors in crab that I have ever tasted. Thank you, Cat Cora, no wonder you are an Iron Chef.
Read all 6 reviews