Garlic Noodles with Crab Recipe For National Crab Day
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A tasty new way to serve crab, we present this Garlic Noodles with Crab recipe (photo #1) for National Crab Day, March 9th. Thanks to the California Wine Institute for the recipe, which was developed by Sarah Gim. You can find many more delicious recipes with wine pairings at DiscoverCaliforniaWines.com. Says Sarah: “Garlic Noodles with Crab, like many iconic California dishes, is a dish that was born out of the creative fusion of the many different cultures that coexist here in the Golden State. “In 1970s San Francisco, Vietnamese chef Helene An was inspired by her surrounding Italian neighborhood and cooked noodles using ingredients that were locally available to her. “She came up with Garlic Noodles and Roast Crab, using umami-rich Asian sauces, Italian Parmesan cheese and Dungeness crab*, a type of crab that lives in the cold waters off the coast of California and the rest of the West Coast. “Garlic Noodles and Roast Crab are now famous at both Chef An’s original Thanh Long restaurant as well as sister restaurant Crustacean, with locations in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles. “The restaurant prepares whole Dungeness crab by roasting it, but we’re skipping that step and simply re-warming Dungeness crab that your fishmonger has already steamed for you. “Look for cooked Dungeness crabs that are bright orange-red and heavy for their size. Dungeness crab is considered a good choice for sustainable seafood.” Wine Pairing: “A full-bodied California Chardonnay is a perfect pairing for the buttery noodles. For something to balance out the rich flavors, try a bright California rosé.” The recipe follows. > Crab types and grades of crab meat. > There are more crab recipes below. Prep time is 10 minutes, and cook time is 15 minutes. But before you start, watch this video showing how to remove the meat from a Dungeness crab. If you don’t want to do it, consider using soft shell crabs or lump crab meat. You can make the Garlic Noodles with whatever long, thin noodles you like—spaghetti, linguine, etc. If you have access to fresh pasta (photo #2) or to Asian-style fresh noodles**, use them because they have a subtle bouncy texture that you don’t get from dried pasta. Similarly, although “Parmesan-style cheese” is an ingredient, you can use any strong grating cheese***. For The Dungeness Crab 1. PREPARE the Dungeness crabs: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Turn the heat off. Carefully slide the Dungeness crabs into the hot water and let them sit for 10 minutes to warm the crabs. 2. REMOVE the crabs from the hot water to a colander or bowl to drain off the excess water. Rinse out the pot; you will use it for the Garlic Noodles. 3. MELT the butter in a wok or large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add both warmed Dungeness crabs to the pan. Spoon the garlic butter over the crabs, and using a pair of tongs, gently turn the crabs over a few times to make sure they are entirely coated in the garlic butter. Add salt and pepper to taste (note that the soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce all have salt). 4a. REMOVE the Dungeness crabs to a serving plate, and drizzle the remaining garlic butter from pan over them. Set the crabs aside while you make the Garlic Noodles. 4b. WIPE out the pan or wok. 5. BRING a large pot of water to a boil, add the noodles and cook according to package directions until al dente. Depending on the type and brand of noodles, the cooking time can be anywhere from 90 seconds for fresh to 12 minutes for dried. 6. SAVE 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the noodles. Do not rinse them. While the noodles are cooking, prepare the remaining ingredients. 7. MINCE the garlic cloves very finely. 8. COMBINE in a small bowl the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, Parmesan cheese, and optional sugar. 9. HEAT the olive oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and stir until it is melted into the olive oil. Add the minced garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 90 seconds. Do not allow the garlic to brown. 10. STIR the soy sauce mixture into the olive oil-melted butter in the pan. Add the cooked noodles to the pan and toss with the sauce to coat the noodles, about 1 minute. If the noodles and sauce become too dry in the pan, add reserved cooking water to the pan a few tablespoons at a time to loosen the noodles. 11. TRANSFER the Garlic Noodles to a serving platter. Garnish with sliced scallions. Serve immediately alongside the Dungeness Crabs. Each person gets four legs and one claw, i.e., half a crab. 12. STORE any leftover Dungeness Crab and Garlic Noodles separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator. The Dungeness crabs will keep for one day. The Garlic Noodles will keep for two days. Dungeness crab has been compared by some to the flavor of Maine lobster, but more tender. The meat is perhaps the sweetest of the Pacific crabs, flavorful and semi-nutty. Perhaps it’s because of its fine diet: It enjoys clams, other crustaceans and small fish. The crab is named after Dungeness, Washington, but is found from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska south to Santa Cruz, California. Its Latin name, Cancer magister, means “master crab” because it can measure as wide as 10 inches. **Asian noodles are made with flour milled from common wheat, rice flour, or starch from a tuber or bean. Because traditional Asian noodles use softer flours and starches than pasta, most noodles employ salt as a binding agent, whereas Italian pasta typically forgoes salt. See the different types of pasta. ***Grating cheeses are aged, hard cheeses. Italian grating cheeses include Grana Padano, Pantaleo (goat’s milk, from Sardinia), Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, Pecorino Sardo, Pepato (sheep’s milk, Sicily), Provolone (aged), and Ricotta Salata. Other European grating cheeses include Cheddar, Cheshire, Edam, Gouda (aged), Gruyère (aged), Red Leicester, and Queijo de São Jorge (from the Azores). There are also American hard cheeses, such as Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, America’s most award-winning cheese. Your cheesemonger may have others as well. †Fish sauce is a liquid sauce made from fermented fish and salt. Though fish sauce can have an intense fragrance directly from the bottle, the final dish does not actually smell or taste strongly “fishy.” Fish sauce adds umami and salt. You can find fish sauce in the condiments or the Asian food section of grocery stores, or online. If you cannot find fish sauce, substitute additional soy sauce or miso paste mixed with water. ‡Oyster sauce is a thick sauce made primarily from oysters. It adds umami and a subtle sweetness to final dishes. Look for a brand that has “oyster” as the first ingredient. Of all the Asian fish sauces, oyster sauce has the lowest salt per tablespoon—but it’s still 492 mg. If you can’t find oyster sauce, substitute an equivalent amount of a mix of half soy sauce and half sugar. |
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Sticks Of Butter[/caption]
