Texas Style Spicy Crabs Recipes

JORDAN BABINEAUX'S GUMBO TEXAS STYLE

Steps:

• To make roux, heat the oil in heavy skillet until very hot. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring constantly, until it forms a paste. Lower heat and continue to stir until dark brown, do not burn
• Turn off heat and continue to stir until mixture stops bubbling.
• Fill large pot half full with water. Season the chicken with the garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper and salt. Add the chicken, basil, rosemary, green pepper, celery, onion, sausage, crab legs and roux to the pot. Bring to full boil, stirring constantly to keep roux from sticking to bottom.
• Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Add the shrimp, simmer about 30 minutes longer. Add the oysters and cook 5 minutes more. Serve with rice or crackers.

TEXAS BLUE CRAB SALAD

Steps:

• In a medium saute pan, saute garlic and shallots in canola oil until translucent. Remove from heat and cool. In a medium size bowl, whip together sour cream and Boursin cheese. When mixture becomes smooth, season with hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire, cilantro and chives. Finish with lime juice, salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Mix in crabmeat, garlic and shallots being careful not to break up the crabmeat too fine. Place crab salad on a piece of lavosh and serve as hors d'oeuvre.

SWEET AND SPICY COLD CRAB DIP

Steps:

• Mix together cream cheese, crab, onion, parsley, honey, horseradish, and lemon juice in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

SPICY CRAB SOUP

Steps:

• Cook and clean crabs:
• Bring water to a simmer in pot and add crabs using tongs. Cover pot and cook over high heat until crab shells are bright red, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer crabs to a shallow baking pan and reserve cooking liquid in pot.
• When crabs are cool enough to handle, break off 16 claws, working over pan to catch juices, and reserve claws, covered and chilled, for garnish (if using Dungeness crabs, reserve 16 hind legs). Still working over pan, pull off aprons (abdomens), legs, and remaining claws from crabs and add to pot, then cut crabs in half, through shell, with kitchen shears (if using Dungeness crabs, pull top shells from bodies and crack front claws with a mallet). Dip crabs into cooking liquid to rinse off mustard (tomalley), then pull apart shells and extract meat and any orange-red roe with your fingers. (There are bits of meat in all the nooks and crannies.) Put meat and roe in a small bowl and chill, covered. Add all shells and any juices from baking pan to cooking liquid in pot.
• Make broth:
• Quarter onion and add 1 quarter to crab cooking liquid along with halved garlic cloves. Boil broth, uncovered, skimming froth frequently, until liquid is reduced to about 8 cups, about 50 minutes. Carefully pour broth through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids.
• Make sofrito while broth is reducing:
• Heat a dry well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot, then toast chile 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a blender. Pan-roast unpeeled garlic, turning with tongs, until browned in spots, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool garlic, then peel and add to blender. Pan-roast tomatoes, turning occasionally, until browned in spots, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop remaining onion and add to blender. Cool tomatoes, then core, peel, and quarter and add to blender.Purée mixture until smooth. Force purée through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.
• Heat oil in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and carefully stir in purée (oil will splatter). Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 15 minutes, to make sofrito. Add epazote and 7 cups strained broth, then simmer soup over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.
• Add remaining broth to blender along with tortillas, cornstarch, and salt and blend until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour mixture through cleaned medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Stir tortilla purée into soup and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard epazote if fresh. Stir in reserved crabmeat and simmer just until heated through. Serve soup ladled over reserved claws.

SPICY PECANS - TEXAS STYLE

Steps:

• In a skillet, mix all the dry ingredients.
• Stir in olive oil, Worchestershire sauce, and pepper sauce.
• Cook and stir over a low heat to allow flavors to blend and mellow for about 5 minutes.
• Place pecans in a large mixing bowl; add the spice mixture.
• Toss well to coat evenly.
• Spread pecans on a baking sheet or pan in a single layer.
• Bake at 325 for about 15 minutes, shaking pan occasionally.
• Cool completely.

SPICY MARINADE FOR SOFT-SHELL CRABS

Steps:

• Combine the marinade ingredients and mix well.
• Add the cleaned crabs to the marinade and refrigerate for at least an hour.
• Broil or grill the crabs for about 10-15 minutes, basting once with the sauce and turning halfway through cooking time.