You can use any type of crab for this chowder, except for shore crabs. I used Dungeness crab since it's available locally and is still in season. It certainly tastes awesome with the bread I made yesterday. No idea on how heavy the crab was prior to being shelled, but it yielded 1.5 cups of cooked crab meat.
Here's a breakdown of what it costs to make this chowder from scratch:
1 Dungeness crab, cooked (roughly $8 per whole crab, about a pound)
2 white potatoes, $0.50
2 c chicken broth (1/2 quart), $1.00
2 green onion stalks (assuming 8 stalks per bunch and $0.50/bunch), $0.16
1/4 c flour (10# flour at $4), $0.02
2 tbsp unsalted butter (at $3/lb), $0.38
3 organic celery stalks (your yield may vary, this is based on a $2 bag), $0.30
salt, black pepper, and various spices, $0.25
One 16 oz bag of cut sweet corn, $1.69
2 c (16 oz) of organic half 'n' half, $2
Yield: 2 quarts (8 one-cup servings)
Total: $14.30
Cost per cup: $1.79
When ingredient sourcing, food prep, and cook time is factored into the cost, that $5 bowl of chowder you get at the restaurant is actually a pretty good deal.
Showing posts with label dungeness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dungeness. Show all posts
Dungeness Crab Cheesecake
This is a savory cheesecake and will be served up with some crackers as an appetizer. It is the same baking process as a dessert cheesecake, except this one is made without a water bath. Frankly, I think the only reason to bake it is so that the eggs get cooked; otherwise, everything else that went into the recipe can be eaten as is. This recipe ratio, minus the onions, is adaapted from the 1999 issue of Taste of Home. I baked this one in a 9" springform pan, like the one used for cakes. For the crab part of the recipe, I steamed a dungeness crab the previous night and reserved the meat.
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| Dungeness Crab Cheesecake. Looks a little boring. Tastes like it desperately needs a contrasting flavor or roasted red peppers added to it. |
On the seafood seasoning, you could just use Old Bay seasoning; though in lieu of that, this is what goes into it: celery seed (adds a savory depth to meat rubs), black pepper (spicy), bay leaves (savory), cardamom pods (sweet & spicy), mustard seeds (savory), whole cloves (sweet & spicy), sweet paprika (mild & sweet, mostly for color) and ground mace (sweet).
[edit] This came out tasting terribly bland, like it was just cream cheese mixed with crab. To bring out the flavor more, perhaps next time add in a cup of shredded smoked gouda or fry some red/green/yellow/orange small diced bell peppers into it for color contrasts.
[edit] This came out tasting terribly bland, like it was just cream cheese mixed with crab. To bring out the flavor more, perhaps next time add in a cup of shredded smoked gouda or fry some red/green/yellow/orange small diced bell peppers into it for color contrasts.
Ingredients
16 oz cream cheese, softened
3 oz sour cream
1 c crushed butter crackers + 1/4 c melted unsalted butter
1 c cooked dungeness crab meat, flaked
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp seafood seasoning (I used ground mace, smoked paprika, pinch of ground cloves)
dash of chili sauce (like a sirracha or Tabasco sauce)
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, seafood seasoning, and chili sauce. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese and sour cream. Beat together until smooth. Add in lightly beaten eggs, lemon juice, seafood seasoning, chili sauce and some freshly ground black pepper. Blend until smooth-ish.
3. Take 25-30 round butter crackers (like Ritz or Trader Joe's) and crush them with your hands, in a food prep, or in a sealable plastic bag with a bottle or rubber mallet. You could also substitute panko crumbs in this step, I suppose. Mix the cracker crumbs with melted butter and gently press into the bottom of a buttered springform cake pan.
4. Bake cracker crust for 10 minutes, remove from oven and turn oven heat down to 325 degrees F.
5. Pour cream cheese mixture into the prepared cake pan and use a spatula to spread the filling evenly. Bake for 35 minutes, until center has set.
6. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Use a butter knife to loosen the cheesecake from the edge of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let refrigerate for an hour or more before serving.
Serve with freshly made bread or crackers.
Dungeness Crab Bisque
Today I attempted to make a consommé from a dungeness crab carcass, which turned out to be an interesting way to make crab stock. I started this recipe with the ingredient ratio from Williams-Sonoma, but found that the bisque was too watery and lacked depth. I later added the other ingredients in the Food Network's crab bisque recipe, minus the whole dungeness crabs which I did not have on hand and made a few adjustments. Also omitted was tarragon, which I neither have fresh nor dried in the pantry.
Using a 5-qt programmable crockpot, I cooked a dungeness crab carcass for the better part of the day; about 6 hours on the "high" setting, and 8 hours on the "low", though I don't think it really cooked for 14 hours. In the crockpot, I also added some Shaoxing red rice wine. Use a strainer to extract just the liquid from the crockpot into a pot large enough to accommodate it and the rest of the bisque ingredients. Unlike all other crab bisque recipes, this one extracts all the crab flavor from one carcass and the meat is from canned crab; though, you could use freshly cooked crab meat if it were in season. At the moment, it is not in season in the Pacific Northwest and live crab prices have gone back up to their off-season norm of about $5/lb. This yielded roughly 3 quarts of crab stock.
Also, note if the canned crab contains added salt. If it does, like the Trader Joe's canned crab, rinse it with water to remove the excess salty water, then strain it before adding to the bisque. This will help to control how much sodium actually gets into the soup.
Ingredients
crab stock (can also substitute chicken or fish stock)
Two 6 oz cans of crab meat
2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sweet marsala wine
One 14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatoes (or 3 whole tomatoes)
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
1 carrot, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, minced
1 bay leaf
cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
Himalayan pink salt
pinch of ground thyme
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Directions
1. Prepare crab stock by simmering a crab carcass with some dry wine (rice wine works well) in a stockpot or crockpot for several hours. Strain to remove shell particulates and other non-liquid items into a clean stockpot.
2. In a small saute pan, melt olive oil and butter together, then add shallots, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook over low heat until shallots become translucent. Add to crab stock.
If you have a limited number of cooking pots, you may find this reversed step more optimal for the kitchen instead of starting with these ingredients in the stockpot then adding the strained crab stock to deglaze the pot.
3. Add the heavy cream, bay leaf, marsala wine, lemon juice, and spices (cayenne pepper, thyme, pink salt, freshly ground black pepper. Season to taste.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir the bisque so that the paste dissolves into the stock.
5. Let the stock come to a boil, then simmer for at least an hour. In the last half hour of cooking (before serving), add the canned crab or freshly cooked crab meat (cut into 1" pieces).
6. In batches, pureé in a food prep or blender. In this step, you can strain the bisque so that only the liquid remains, or serve it as is while still warm.
Using a 5-qt programmable crockpot, I cooked a dungeness crab carcass for the better part of the day; about 6 hours on the "high" setting, and 8 hours on the "low", though I don't think it really cooked for 14 hours. In the crockpot, I also added some Shaoxing red rice wine. Use a strainer to extract just the liquid from the crockpot into a pot large enough to accommodate it and the rest of the bisque ingredients. Unlike all other crab bisque recipes, this one extracts all the crab flavor from one carcass and the meat is from canned crab; though, you could use freshly cooked crab meat if it were in season. At the moment, it is not in season in the Pacific Northwest and live crab prices have gone back up to their off-season norm of about $5/lb. This yielded roughly 3 quarts of crab stock.
Also, note if the canned crab contains added salt. If it does, like the Trader Joe's canned crab, rinse it with water to remove the excess salty water, then strain it before adding to the bisque. This will help to control how much sodium actually gets into the soup.
Ingredients
crab stock (can also substitute chicken or fish stock)
Two 6 oz cans of crab meat
2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sweet marsala wine
One 14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatoes (or 3 whole tomatoes)
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
1 carrot, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, minced
1 bay leaf
cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
Himalayan pink salt
pinch of ground thyme
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Directions
1. Prepare crab stock by simmering a crab carcass with some dry wine (rice wine works well) in a stockpot or crockpot for several hours. Strain to remove shell particulates and other non-liquid items into a clean stockpot.
2. In a small saute pan, melt olive oil and butter together, then add shallots, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook over low heat until shallots become translucent. Add to crab stock.
If you have a limited number of cooking pots, you may find this reversed step more optimal for the kitchen instead of starting with these ingredients in the stockpot then adding the strained crab stock to deglaze the pot.
3. Add the heavy cream, bay leaf, marsala wine, lemon juice, and spices (cayenne pepper, thyme, pink salt, freshly ground black pepper. Season to taste.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir the bisque so that the paste dissolves into the stock.
5. Let the stock come to a boil, then simmer for at least an hour. In the last half hour of cooking (before serving), add the canned crab or freshly cooked crab meat (cut into 1" pieces).
6. In batches, pureé in a food prep or blender. In this step, you can strain the bisque so that only the liquid remains, or serve it as is while still warm.
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