Spider Crab pasta a la Nigella & Spearo Dave

[Mr. X]

Thought I just share some info. about another very pleasant seafood meal.

First catch your crab...
All the talk of Spider Crabs recently encouraged me to get 3 big ones with decent claws last week. There were many around so I could be fussy. A couple of them nipped my fingers, one that got away was much faster than the others & grabbed an already bruised knuckle -- ouch! He deserved to get away (bit smaller than the others too).

I was originally planning to do a Guernsey-style family get together but a lot of folk find the look of crab a little too intimidating. So decided to do a pasta-style dish after trawling the forum & cook books. A combination of Nigella Lawson's:inlove "Forever Summer" book's "liguine with Chili, Crab & water cress" & Spearo Dave's recipe provided the basis. We were careful with seasoning so that children & others with more delicate taste could enjoy it too. (Our Cajun Crawdaddy last year was for hardy adults only).

Preparation of the crab: after a bit of research (Huan, Foxfish, Floyd on fish & Delia Smith). Put the crab in cold salted water (needed 2 huge 2-handle pans) and brought to the boil (took the best part of half an hour to get all that the chilled crab to boil), simmered for 10 mins & then left to cool (boiling for 15-20mins is often suggested though). The crab shells go an impressive pink-red when cooked. Then I did the meat extraction on all 3 crabs -- getting a little help on the last crab.

Using nut crackers & skewers, meat was removed from: legs (some have a lot more meat than others), claws & joint where legs join to the body. The body itself contained little or no meat...some of the bits might be edible, not much I would think though. It takes a little time to do this. We cooked this recipe as a team of two which worked well -- additional hands would have been useful for "crab processing".

Ingredients:
I was aiming to provide the meat of one large spider crab per person but in practice could have used less - perhaps 1 crab for 2 people (alternatively used crab meat for that rich but subtle crab flavour & add chicken for addition meat/protein).

Pasta (we used white & green tagelatelli)

Salt & Garlic ground together - Nigella recommends a table spoon full, we used a teaspoon full & found even that too much; the salty crab is cooked in salt after all. I would not miss salt out completely though as it helps grind the the garlic to a paste (use a pestle & mortar).

Onion

Watercress

A tiny amount of Cayenne pepper (fresh chili might be better - add as much as you & your guests can enjoy).

Tin tomatos - mashed through a seive (but all used)

Fresh parsley (optional)

Lemon (juice & zest)

White wine (we used only 1/4 cup)

Cider & Apple juice (or white wine) - to drink!

After the crabs are cooked & while they are being prepared...


Preparing a pasta sauce: Onion fried blonde in olive oil in the pan, adding the ground salt & garlic (we had a little ground pepper too), some fresh chopped parsley from the garden. Then added the tomatoes & wine.

Putting it all together:The crab, chopped water cress, some lemon juice & lemon zest was mixed into the pasta sauce & briefly warmed through. The quickly boiled pasta (firm to the bite) was then mixed with the pasta sauce.

That's it. The flavour was very rich, unusally salty for us - tasted great though, everybody enjoyed it...which surprised me. Rather than wine, we drank cider & (Braeburn) apple juice with it -- West Country crabs after all . Delicious!

 

[Pav]

Spider crabs.. Myth or true??

If you take 1 claw from the spider crab and leave the other one the crab will live happily. Infact the missing claw will grow back.

I believe this is true but not sure where I heard it. I may be completly wrong so please wait for someone to confirm this before harvesting the front claws!

 

[Huw]

Mr x...

Fantastic sounding recipie. I really will try it sometimes. Like yourself i am weary of putting too much salt into a recipie... i am not overly keen on the taste. How much do you recommend i reduce the salt by?

Pav...
The ability to loose a claw is a common characteristic of nearly all crabs. In fact the common shore crab can loose both claws and still survive! Of course the crab will not be able to feed from molluscs like usuall as they cannot crush the shell, but as long as food is abundant in an area, they use their other legs to help push food towards their 'mouths'. As i work in an aquarium, young children often become upset upon seeing a crab with one/no claws, but then begin to laugh when i show them others who are in the process of growing a new one! In fact recently a local fisherman brought in a three clawed edible crab i am going to try and get a picture up over the weekend... i have been meaning to share it with everyone for a long time!

Huw.

 

[eckaflx]

That recipe sounds delicious, Mr X!

I shall try it out this weekend!

 

[spaghetti]

That recipe sounds delicious, Mr X!

I shall try it out this weekend!

I have tried it cooking by your recipe: it passed the exam, since my wife liked it too (when she dislikes what I cook, she tells me: no cerimonies).
Good on you guys. The only difference is that I used linguine instead of tagliatelle, and salty anchovies instead of the salt (I let the anchos melt in the pan with the sauce).
How does the cider taste like? Nooooo, I'm still into wine!

 

[Pav]

Didn't see a single Bass!

Distracted by the Spiders! Collected a few claws. Amazing how despite being similar body size some spiders come with much bigger claws. I have a system now that avoids having my fingers crushed! 1 Claw from each so they can grow again (thanks Huw! ;>)

the system?? I grab the spider with both hands, holding one of the front claws in each hand. Twist one to remove and then drop.

Also collected a Lobster today which has just been boiled for tomorrows tea.

A LOT of smooth hounds? not dogfish. today around the reef. Do they sleep? They all seemed pretty mellow today and not a lot of life. Hot today if that maybe makes them sleep / sunbath?

 

[Oldsarge]

My sainted aunt Maryann used to make up a red sauce with crab that no one would ever give me the recipe for. It was famous throughout the family though by the time I came along, the family had sort of dispersed throughout the LA area and I never got to taste it. I may just use yours as a substitute. Come to think of it, since sheephead is reputed to taste just like crab I may substitute it, should I manage to hit one.

Note: the California sheephead is a wrasse that changes sex from female to male as it grows so that all the big ones are guys. They're easy to tell apart as the males have a red middle with black head and tale.

 

[naiad]

A LOT of smooth hounds? not dogfish. today around the reef. Do they sleep? They all seemed pretty mellow today and not a lot of life. Hot today if that maybe makes them sleep / sunbath?

Maybe it is because of the heat. A few weeks ago, on a hot sunny day, I saw some fish in a lake and they appeared to be sunbathing. They were in very shallow water, with dorsal fins touching the surface, and mostly staying in one place or slowly moving around. I could only see most of them from a distance. Some of them were definitely tench of about 40cm, and others were much bigger, 60+cm. If they were also tench, they were very big.

 

[spaghetti]

Maybe it is because of the heat. A few weeks ago, on a hot sunny day, I saw some fish in a lake and they appeared to be sunbathing. They were in very shallow water, with dorsal fins touching the surface, and mostly staying in one place or slowly moving around. I could only see most of them from a distance. Some of them were definitely tench of about 40cm, and others were much bigger, 60+cm. If they were also tench, they were very big.

A few weeks ago tenches were making love :inlove (or at least italian tenches were in love, from end of may to end of june. But I don't know if reproduction periods change from Italy to Uk due to different weather). However, you know how fishes make love: move slow, stare each other, swim cheek to cheek, it's a mental thing more than physical.
Then after, you know how it ends...: tench is good filleted with rice, or roasted and stuffed with ham.

 

[Mr. X]

Huw, not sure how much salt. To taste I guess. I like Spaghetti's idea of using anchovies though.

Pav, re. the claws, I saw a program ages ago where the professional crabbers somewhere (East Coast USA I think) catch crabs, remove one claw & return the crab to the sea -- pretty much as you are doing now. I bet lobster are the same -- but would you throw it back?!

Somebody on the Cornwall thread (Huw, I think) explained that males have the big claws & females have small claws, but females have some meat (sweet) in the body (the males don't). It was good to get that clarified as half the people I met said all the meat is in the claws(Floyd on Fish) and/or legs and the other half told me it was all in the body -- it seems they were both half right!

Naiad, not sure but I was told coarse fish sometimes go near the surface in warm weather in still water because the oxygen is harder to come by. They sometimes ban ground bait here in hot weather to avoid making things harder for the fish. The bigger fish might be carp (or very big bream?) -- or maybe a very good tench! Bet a 60cm would put up a good fight.

 

[Mr. X]

...the California sheephead is a wrasse that changes sex from female to male as it grows so that all the big ones are guys. They're easy to tell apart as the males have a red middle with black head and tale.

Wrasse here are the same in that they all start as female apparently & the big, older ones are all males. Amazing. There are several types here, often very colourful. I saw a program that showed that as well as gender changing, some species of fish will reproduce asexually under extreme conditions ... water shortage in a small pool in the case shown (in Mexico I think).

 

[naiad]

A few weeks ago tenches were making love :inlove (or at least italian tenches were in love, from end of may to end of june. But I don't know if reproduction periods change from Italy to Uk due to different weather). However, you know how fishes make love: move slow, stare each other, swim cheek to cheek, it's a mental thing more than physical.

Maybe that was what they were doing. I saw two of them kissing. (I know they probably don't kiss, but that is what it looked like) :inlove

There were countless thousands of tiny fry in some parts of the lake. I couldn't tell what kind of fish they were, maybe young tench.

Naiad, not sure but I was told coarse fish sometimes go near the surface in warm weather in still water because the oxygen is harder to come by. They sometimes ban ground bait here in hot weather to avoid making things harder for the fish. The bigger fish might be carp (or very big bream?) -- or maybe a very good tench! Bet a 60cm would put up a good fight.

That could also explain it, but I thought the lowest oxygen level would be in the warmest water, which is in the shallows in direct sunlight. That was where the big fish were, in about 10cm of water in direct sunlight. Tench can tolerate very low oxygen levels, more than most other fish except the crucian carp. I used to have a pet tench when I was a kid. It was very small, about 6cm. I released it in a lake. Maybe it is still there, and very big.

I saw a program that showed that as well as gender changing, some species of fish will reproduce asexually under extreme conditions ... water shortage in a small pool in the case shown (in Mexico I think).

I know that one fish, the black molly, can reproduce asexually. It is from Mexico, but the black variety is bred for tropical fish tanks. The females can sometimes give birth without mating, to exact copies of themselves. I used to keep and breed them. They are very black, every part of them is black with no other trace of colour, even the eyes and fins. The babies are born already black, like tadpoles.

 

[spaghetti]

I, too, must have reproduced asexually, or accidentally married a black molly, since I have dark hair and eyes, while my daughter is blue eyed and blonde...

 

[Mr. X]

I, too, must have reproduced asexually, or accidentally married a black molly, since I have dark hair and eyes, while my daughter is blue eyed and blonde...

Does she look like the milkman?
[I bet you don't even have milk men in Italy. (Il Postino?! Sorry, couldn't help myself )]

 

[Jep]

Wrasse here are the same in that they all start as female apparently & the big, older ones are all males. Amazing. There are several types here, often very colourful. I saw a program that showed that as well as gender changing, some species of fish will reproduce asexually under extreme conditions ... water shortage in a small pool in the case shown (in Mexico I think).

Just out of interest... has anyone here actually tried eating a UK (rainbow?)wrasse or is it just an old wives tale that they are not good eating? I've caught plenty of big ones whilst line fishing off the rocks in Cornwall but always thrown them back.

 

[naiad]

I, too, must have reproduced asexually, or accidentally married a black molly, since I have dark hair and eyes, while my daughter is blue eyed and blonde...

Does your wife look like this?
http://www.aquariarieti.it/contents/?pid=104

If so, you have been diving for far too long.

 

[spaghetti]

Does your wife look like this?
http://www.aquariarieti.it/contents/?pid=104

If so, you have been diving for far too long.

Yes yes...could be. She's got longer legs, but could be a black molly...
Strangely, I had always thought she was a tench by the way she behaves in certain situations...
And in facts it was a tench who convinced me to ask her to marry me (and this is a true story. It's a long story,but I will tell you if you want me to!)

 

[Oldsarge]

Whether or not a fish is "good to eat" depends on: 1. the recipe, 2. the cook, 3. the diner, 4. the time of year and possibly several things I haven't figured out yet. My first question would be, (1) "How did all those people who didn't like the rainbow wrasse cook them?" Not all fish are good fried. Certainly we don't usually fry sheephead. They are best poached, let cool and then treated like crab meat for salads, sandwiches, etc. In my case, I'll cut the fillets into bite size pieces and drop them into the sauce until just cooked. I'll probably add a bottle of clam juice to the sauce when first putting it together along with the white wine or sherry. (3)However, my son's girlfriend is so opposed to the taste of fish in any form that she wouldn't like it no matter how I cooked it. (2) Fish can be really spoiled by over-cooking. You have to watch it like a hawk, otherwise it gets dry and nasty. (4) As to the time of year, we have to watch out for certain microorganisms that can poison fish and divers. Might some also affect the taste of the rainbow wrasse? Just wondering . . .

 

[Oldsarge]

And in facts it was a tench who convinced me to ask her to marry me (and this is a true story. It's a long story,but I will tell you if you want me to!)

I don't care how long it is, this has got to be worth reading! :rofl: C'mon, 'fess up!

 

[Huw]

Mr x...

You are exactly right in your evaluation of the meat contents of spiders. Males = big claws but not much worth touching in the shell.
Females= small claws but nice sweet white meat in the shell.

Maybe a really usefull thing to share with you all, that you might not be aware of, but due to the design of a spider crabs shell, they fall unconcious almost immediately when held upside down (out of the water). This is particularly usefull with the big frisky males who arent keen on you getting hold of their claws. Next time you catch a spider, try it out... hold upside down and it will bring its legs into its body and stop moving completely, then put it the right way again and immediately it will begin to move.

This does not work in the water, as i am sure that the lack of pressure outside of the shell plays a vital role in the blacking out. The crab suffers no damage from this process.


On the subject of wrasse, Cuckoo wrasse, are the most comomn fish to reproduce asexually in the uk waters, this is mainly due to lack of males in an area. ALL Cuckoo wrasse are born female! therefore depending on the amount of males in an area, some will change whilst others will not. Males are extremely territorial and therefore will often seek out new habitats. This means that a female in the process of changing sex will often become impregnated on her own, shortly before she changes completely to ensure that a new colony can be established safely in the new area.

Personally i have never tried eating wrasse of any species, only because i had heard nothing but bad tales of people eating them and finding the taste foul. But exactly as Oldsarge said, many many factors can effect this. If anyone has a recipie which they enjoy, then i would love to hear it so that i can have a valid personal holding on this fish. I see so many huge wrasse when out spearing (often followed by a rather big one must be close to 6lbs) and have caught some really impressive ones whilst fishing from rocks with a rod and line. A good recipie would mean that days with no bass could have a back up plan!

Thanks guys... and spaghetti you story really does sound like an interesting one, and am waiting to hear it!

Huw