Steak and Crab ... a tasty combination!

Whole Foods has had Alaskan King Crab legs off and on here for the last few months, and every now and then I just can't refuse.  For this dinner I went with a filet topped with the crab served alongside sautéed kale and stewed white beans.

To make the crab topper I sautéed the crab in butter with sliced fresh garlic and just before finishing I hit it with splash of white wine to loosen everything up.  I plated everything else and then topped off the steak with the crab mix ... it was amazing, try it an enjoy!

Stone Crab is a great crab!

Wandering around the seafood section in Whole Foods the other day, I noticed something that I don't see there very often ... Stone Crab Claws!  I love stone crab claws because they have a great meat to weight ratio.  The only downside to them is that they require a little force to crack ... luckily a metal meat tenderizer will do the trick nicely.  Now, I didn't want to make stone crab the entire dinner so I grabbed a couple of U10 scallops and shrimp as well.

I cooked my crustacean feast on the grill and then served it with baked potato chips and sautéed kale topped off with a poblano and queso fresco cream sauce.

Random inspiration strikes again!

So Tom walks into Whole Foods, gets some inspiration and walks out with a bunch of random stuff, sound like a story you've heard on this blog before?  Yeah, I know, but honestly that really is what happens most of the time!  When I don't have something planned I always start by going to the seafood counter to look for inspiration there first, then I head to the meat counter ... once I have finished these two stops I know what I need to go back for in the veggie section.

For this dinner I had my first stroke of inspiration when I saw Stone Crab claws in the seafood section ... yes please!  I grabbed a pound of those and then headed to the meat counter to see what else I could find.  I was preparing myself for disappointment when I saw there was no Dry-Aged beef out, until I noted the certified USDA Prime filet!  I grabbed a nice thick one and with the start of a plan I headed back to the veggies to figure out what else I was going to serve with dinner.

I had originally been thinking of either stuffing the filet with the crab, or making a crab sauce of sort, but once I got home I decided it might be more fun to play with a "crab cake" of sorts so I went that route.  I de-shelled the crab and decided that rather than traditional crab cakes I would blend a combination of crab and diced avocado into a Johnny Cake mix and see how that worked.  I won't be posting the full recipe here because it really didn't work out as planned.  The Johnny Cake batter was fine (yellow grits, boiling water, sugar, salt and pepper) but I tried to blend too much crab and avocado mix into it and made the cakes too thick.  The centers ended up a little gritty!  If you'd like to try and see if you can do better I would try aiming more for pancake thickness and cooking them until crispy on both sides.  I served them with a sour cream and pimento cheese sauce.

While wandering the vegetable section I had been struck with a couple of points of inspiration ... steak is best served simply with asparagus, and I really wanted to make a sweet onion crepe with truffle sauce.  For those that may not remember, this is a Marc Vetri inspiration that we have loved and made a few times (Sweet Onion Crepe in the New Year's dinner).  The filet I cooked in my prefered winter style (cast iron pan and broiler to finish) and combined with the sweet onion crepe and truffle sauce to offset the need for another protein ... it was divine and exactly what I hadn't known I was looking for when I walked into Whole Foods that day!

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!