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Meal Description
Early Summer is the perfect time for Soft Shell Crabs straight out of the Chesapeake. Soft Shell crabs are blue crabs that are molting, meaning shedding their hard shell exoskeleton as they grow larger. On average, a crab increases in size about 25-40% every time it molts. Once the Crab emerges from the exoskeleton, the Crab then fills itself full of water to fill the news shell. For a period of about 2 days, the new shell remains soft until it calcifies through the reaction of the salt in the water. This is why soft shell crabs are immediately removed from the water.
A molten crab is entirely edible except for the lungs, eyes and mouths. These will be removed just prior to deliver so the crab is as fresh as possible. The crab will be dusted with seasoned floured and pan fried and then finished in the oven.
The tomatoes will be oven roasted over 4-6 hours, which will dehydrate them concentrating the sugars, and then sauteed in Vermouth, which will then act as a base for the pan sauce. The soft shell crabs are served over an Orzo Pilaf.
Crab Jeopardy: What is a Cephalothorax? The answer is that Crabs are tailless and instead have a massive “cephalothorax,” which means the head and the body are fused together, much like some spiders. This structure allows the crab to live in the deepest sea, burrow on land, or even climb trees.
Bon Appétit!
Time to Cook: 30 min.
Cook by Day: Friday
Items included (serves 2)
Softshell Crabs
Seasoned Flour
Mirepoix & Garlic
Oven Dried Tomatoes & cooked Vermouth
Lemon
Orzo
Chicken Stock
*Menu items subject to slight variation based on the availability of fresh ingredients; Picture is not necessarily representative of final dish
Meal Contains (including add-ons): Wheat, Shellfish. We store, portion, and package various meal kits containing all eight (8) major allergens (milk, wheat, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts) and cannot guarantee that cross-contamination will not occur between kits.
Add-on Checkout Items
Extra Crabs
Extra Servings