Hi. My name is Wendy, and I love crab.
Dungeness. If I had to choose between crab and chocolate, well, let's just say the likelihood of my head exploding is very high.
I got lots of crab in Arcata. Humboldt Bay crab, to be exact, which really does taste different than SF crab (saltier) or Oregon crab (milder.) I bought five of them to pick and take to New Year's breakfast, before I knew they were 2 lbs a piece! So we came home with the meat from two of them, which Cody helped me pick last night.
One of my favorite dishes at the Slanted Door is their Cellophane Noodles with Crab. I don't know what it is about that recipe, but I can never seem to seem to *not* order it. Tonight I thought I'd give a variant a try, since I have all this crab but few of the other ingredients.
1 tsp veg oil
2 lg cloves minced garlic
1/2 c crab
1 Tbs fish sauce (I actually used 1 1/2 Tbs, but the final result was too salty)
2 Tbs chopped dried (reconstituted) chantrelles (4 dried ones from our festive festoon of fungi, thanks to jimr!)
1/2 Tbs sesame oil
1 c pasta
What worked: the flavor was complex and deep, and it's a nice use of crab. The chantrelles were a godsend - I suspect other mushrooms would work as well if you don't have oyster sauce on-hand.
What didn't: 1.5 Tbs of fish sauce was too salty for me, though that may have been from the fact that I used less pasta. Leaving out the green onions was a bad idea, too - they add a complexity and freshness that was lacking.
Will I tweak it and do it again? Yep. Likely tomorrow.
* You can find the original recipe, btw, at:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/recipes/crab_noodles.aspx
I got lots of crab in Arcata. Humboldt Bay crab, to be exact, which really does taste different than SF crab (saltier) or Oregon crab (milder.) I bought five of them to pick and take to New Year's breakfast, before I knew they were 2 lbs a piece! So we came home with the meat from two of them, which Cody helped me pick last night.
One of my favorite dishes at the Slanted Door is their Cellophane Noodles with Crab. I don't know what it is about that recipe, but I can never seem to seem to *not* order it. Tonight I thought I'd give a variant a try, since I have all this crab but few of the other ingredients.
1 tsp veg oil
2 lg cloves minced garlic
1/2 c crab
1 Tbs fish sauce (I actually used 1 1/2 Tbs, but the final result was too salty)
2 Tbs chopped dried (reconstituted) chantrelles (4 dried ones from our festive festoon of fungi, thanks to jimr!)
1/2 Tbs sesame oil
1 c pasta
What worked: the flavor was complex and deep, and it's a nice use of crab. The chantrelles were a godsend - I suspect other mushrooms would work as well if you don't have oyster sauce on-hand.
What didn't: 1.5 Tbs of fish sauce was too salty for me, though that may have been from the fact that I used less pasta. Leaving out the green onions was a bad idea, too - they add a complexity and freshness that was lacking.
Will I tweak it and do it again? Yep. Likely tomorrow.
* You can find the original recipe, btw, at:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/recipes/crab_noodles.aspx