Having a little fun with king crab

This post is a bit delayed (it was Shells' birthday dinner in early February), but I figured better late then never.  Some of you may have seen the pictures on Shells' facebook right afterwards, now you can see what all the fun was actually about!

I was walking through Whole Foods trying to figure out what I was going to do for the dinner and was forced to stop in my tracks when I saw the display at the seafood counter that read ... Alaskan King Crab.  Yup, sounds good to me!  I picked up two legs (about 1 lb of crab) and started thinking about the fun things I could do with it.  I had always planned on beef for dinner so I went and grabbed a bit of that as well and then grabbed some veggies and headed off to the kitchen to start getting creative.

Crab bites with avocado cream 

For the first course I decided to do something simple ... I deshelled one of the leg keeping the meat completely intact and then cut it into round slices about 3/4" thick.  I made an avocado puree (using the Vitamix of course!) that was very simple mix of water and a ripe avocado with a little salt and then whipped the puree into a bit of sour cream with a whisk to complete the creamy texture I was looking for.  The actual dish was simple from that point as I sauteed the crab on both flat sides in butter until cooked just through and then served with a bit of the sauce on the plate.

King Crab "confit"

For the second course I decided to combine the remaining solid pieces I had cut off of the crab as well as some of the stringy pieces I had removed from the smaller parts of the shells.  I called this dish King Crab "confit" because it had a similar texture to the chunks and little pieces you would expect to find when eating something like a duck confit leg.  I cooked it up in a saute pan with a little bit of butter and garlic and then added a bit of wine to create a sauce and then I served in a small shallow bowl with a small spoon.

Steak and Crab w/ Baked Potato and Baby Artichoke

For the final savory course of the evening I decided to pair the remaining crab (I only had used about 1/2 of the crab by this point) with the beef and serve it with two of Shells' favorites ... a baked potato and baby artichokes.  I bought baby filets and cooked them in a cast iron skillet before topping them with a mix of chipped king crab and sliced garlic that had been sauteed in butter.  I served the artichokes with drawn butter and the baked potatoes with sour cream and parmesan cheese.

The final course of this dinner was a homemade ice-cream sandwich, we were so full of crab though that we only needed a half.  Hope something here has inspired you, try it and enjoy!