Here's another 100% from scratch endeavor, and the results were literally knee-wobblingly good! I awoke Ira today around 6am so we could catch the tide on its way out. We headed to the public boat launch at the Intracoastal Waterway on the upper end of James Island. We tried the good, old-fashioned chicken-neck-on-a-string method for a while, but aside from seeing some nice wildlife we were disappointed. We felt several bites, but couldn't bring any to shore, mainly due to the rocky bottom there causing our lines to get stuck. So, after a little rest we decided to head over to the fishing dock at the county park to catch the low tide turnaround.
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| We had to fight for a spot at the fishing dock. |
It was a beautiful day! Clear skies (enough to burn me pretty well), and high somewhere in the 80s. The dock was crowded and became more crowded as the day went on, but we managed to stake out enough space to set out a couple of basket "traps".
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| View from the lower dock down the tidal creek. |
The only sad thing was how SLOW it was in crab activity. Even the more experienced people weren't bringing in many. Before we had enough to fool with I had to take Ira home for lunch and he decided he didn't want to come back. So, I continued on alone, determined to bring home enough to make a meal. Finally, with some good catches of my own and the generosity of some people who had more than they needed I had about 20 decent sized crabs, as well as one random white shrimp.
Of course, the crabs were a huge hit with the kids. They were fascinated with the entire process, which is a big part of my motivation for these adventures!
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| They look small, but they pinch hard, and they taste good! |
We opted for steaming rather than boiling.
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| According to Adrienne, these crabs are "hot and mad". They are only slightly redder than my neck after sitting in the sun waiting for them to accept my invitation to dinner. |
Then I quenched them in a spicy broth.
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| Lots of goodness in that icewater. |
The butchering probably took me longer than the actual catching - at least that's what it felt like. But in the end we had enough meat for quite a feast.
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| I pulled all the lump meat and most of the claw meat, but I left a few claws for the kids to crack open by themselves. |
Now, you know this wouldn't be blogworthy if that's all we were doing. With so much crab meat, what can we do to really enjoy it to the fullest? One of my earliest thoughts was to make crab cakes. Crab cakes are relatively simple to make, but it's often frustrating to order them in a restaurant. All too often you get a dry, bready cake that lacks in good crab flavor. I knew I could do better. As usual, my bread crumbs came from my own hands - I baked a nice loaf of bread while waiting for the tides to change in the mid morning.
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| Sage and thyme whole wheat bread, sliced and toasted, then pulsed in the food processor to make the crumbs. |
All you really need to hold it together is some egg. Mine came in the form of homemade mayonaise (really aioli): eggs, oil, salt, lemon juice, garlic, and in this case rosemary.
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| Bring out the Kennedy, and bring out the best! |
While this simple combination provides plenty of flavor in natural harmony, I took it to the next level with a nice sherry-cream sauce.
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| Cooked down to a rich sauce this stuff is phenomenal. |
Thanks to Jodi we had a nice salad to go along with everything. It took me literally all day, but it was worth every second. I spent some quality time with my oldest, delighted all three kids with live crabs in our tiny little apartment kitchen, and thrilled my wife with a meal that probably would have cost $20 a plate or more in a restaurant downtown. I don't mean to boast (well, OK, maybe a little), but I think I could swing it as a chef if this physics thing doesn't work out!
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| Seriously good. This is what weekends are like at our house (sometimes)! |
