YIELD 8 SERVINGS
2 cup flour
1 cup parmesan, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp tabasco
1 cup mayonnaise
1 lemon, juiced
1 zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tbsp olive oil, extra-virgin
1 cup oil, for frying
8 soft-shell crabs, cleaned
8 rolls, hard, halved
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 bn arugula, large stems removed
Directions
In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the Parmesan, salt
and pepper. Make a well in the center and add the eggs and 1/4 cup
of water. Beat the eggs and water together and gradually incorporate
the flour mixture to form a smooth batter. Add 1/8 teaspoon of the
Tabasco and set aside to rest for 30 minutes. In another bowl,
combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, thyme, olive
oil and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon Tabasco. Whisk to blend and set
aside for at least 30 minutes. (The recipe can be prepared to this
point up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate the batter and mayonnaise. If
the batter becomes very thick, thin it out with a little water.)
Preheat the oven to 250F. In a large skillet, heat the peanut oil
over moderately high heat to 350F. Dredge the crabs in the remaining
1 cup flour and shake off the excess. Dip 4 of the crabs in the
batter, let some of the batter drip off, and then fry them in the
skillet, turning once, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Drain on paper towels, place on a heatproof platter and keep warm in
the oven. Repeat with the 4 remaining crabs. Scoop out some of the
bread from the center of the rolls to hollow them slightly. Spread 2
heaping teaspoons of the mayonnaise on each half. Assemble the
sandwiches by placing 2 or 3 slices of tomato and 4 or 5 arugula
leaves on the bottom half of each roll. Set the fried crabs on top
and close the sandwiches. Serve immediately. Serves 8. Recipe from
Food & Wine, June, 1991.
Submitted By WARING@IMA.INFOMAIL.COM (SAM WARING) On
4 JUN 1995 073117 ~0600
Servings: 8 servings
Parmesan-Crusted Soft-Shell Crab Sandwiches Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cheese; Crab; Fish; Sandwich; Seafood
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to prove the history of transcribed cooking instructions way back into antiquity, certainly as far back into history as the early Egyptians, and maybe even further. In practice though, sadly, these early cookbooks were just basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for preparing meals.
In fact, the oldest recipe discovered, according to historians are a few stone tablets in Sumerian which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel wonderful and blissful. Progressing into Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled a few scripts detailing recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. He tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were divided into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. Additionally, he tells us how the Roman chefs made use of many aromatic flavours, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs for example basil, fennel and asafoetida. For the centuries that followed, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe competed to serve up the best banquets, and consequentially chefs and their recipe collections were much in demand. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 1800s that cookery and recipe publications really came of age. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, trying out, and publishing recipes common in their social group. The introduction of the TV brings us TV cooks and the spin-off recipe books. Which brings us neatly to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing us all to search through massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Parmesan Crusted Soft Shell Crab Sandwiches recipe.
