Soft Shell Crab Sandwich
It is officially summer!
Around midday today, I signed out of my last Google Meet class for the year. It has been quite a few months, and remote instruction has certainly been a challenge. But I think my students, by and large, rose to the occasion. Was it the same as teaching in person? Of course not. Did they fully master the new concepts and vocabulary we’ve covered over the last three months? Probably not. But I am lucky. They continued to show up and continued to engage with Latin, and interacted with me and their classmates pleasantly throughout. Given the circumstances and the limitations, especially as we teachers had to figure this out and execute it with no time to plan, overall it went pretty well.
And then, I shut my laptop and made myself a special lunch to celebrate the official start of summer vacation! I love soft shell crabs, but Hank is allergic to shellfish, so I usually only get to indulge in any kind of shellfish at restaurants or as an occasional treat at home, like a few shrimp with cocktail sauce as an appetizer.
But when soft shell crabs are in season and available at Mazzeo’s Meat and Seafood in Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, I sometimes buy one for myself to fry up for lunch!
Since it’s just for me, I don’t do anything complicated or fancy – just a dredge in seasoned flour, then dipped in beaten egg, then back in the flour, and fried in butter. Today I also made a sauce using the homemade sour cream* I made last weekend and some pickled ramp stems which was fabulous!
*I was inspired to try making my own sour cream after I saw it demonstrated online at The Great Big Jewish Food Fest, by Jeffrey Yoskowitz of Gefilteria. I have the cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto, which has this recipe. I must say, it was a bit nerve-wracking to leave a mixture of dairy products out at room temperature for over 24 hours, hoping it would thicken and sour – and not kill us! But it worked! We first ate some mixed with chives on baked potatoes, and it was phenomenal! I will definitely be doing this again!
Soft Shell Crab Sandwich
Serves 1 – If you double the recipe, you won’t need to increase the amount of egg
3-4 Tablespoons homemade sour cream or store-bought mayonnaise
2 pickled ramp stems, chopped, or a couple small pieces of pickled shallot or red onion
½ teaspoon lemon zest, grated
Pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
¼ cup all-purpose flour
Generous pinch salt
Several grindings of pepper
Pinch ground chipotle powder (optional, or try something else!)
1 egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 soft shell crab (ask your fishmonger to clean and prepare for cooking)
2 slices hearty bread, or a sandwich roll
Make the sauce for the sandwich. Combine the sour cream or mayonnaise with the chopped pickled ramp stems, lemon zest, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Mix and set aside.
Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings, such as the chipotle powder suggested here, in a small, shallow dish or on a plate. Place the beaten egg in a small, shallow pan.
Place the butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat. As the butter is melting, dredge the soft shell crab in the flour, then dip and coat with the beaten egg, and then dredge in more flour, being sure to coat all parts of the crab as much as possible.
Once the butter is melted, place the crab in the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. You will need to flip the crab several times, and monitor the heat so that the butter doesn’t begin to burn. The total cooking time should be 4-5 minutes, and the crab should feel just slightly firm.
While the crab is cooking, toast the bread, if desired. (If using a sandwich roll, I usually don’t toast it.) Once the crab is done, place it on one slice of bread and drizzle the crab with the sauce. Top with the other slice of bread, and enjoy a messy, delicious sandwich!