Practical "Crab Mentality?"

crab relleno
Originally uploaded by Foodfarer.

I had this brilliant (haha) idea for paella. Of course traditionalists will probably cringe at this. But I thought it was a pretty practical thing to do at the time.

You see, I celebrated a birthday recently and decided to make pancit (for long life) and seafood paella (because I felt like it). I served pancit bihon at home. (I like making my own pancit because I like it with a lot more sahog. But that’s another story.)

I decided to make paella for the girls at work because they haven’t tasted my paella yet. Since we don’t have a formal pantry at the office, it would be too complicated and messy to actually eat whole or even cut-up crabs—which I like to have on my paella—on our desks. So I decided to just make crab relleno and use those instead of whole crabs.

I used alimasag (blue crabs), steamed them in white wine, separated the shells and cleaned them. I didn’t bother flaking the crab meat and bought lump crab meat instead. I just cut the crabs’ bodies in half and froze them along with the claws for another seafood dish. Of course, I could have just sprinkled crab meat on the rice, or made crab cakes or croquettes. But I wanted the crab shells to still be part of the whole design of the dish. Well, it worked! (In fact, we liked it so much that I decided to make crab relleno to serve at home this time.)

Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the paella. We had all devoured it before I remembered to take a shot. Oh well. Won’t be the last time I’ll make paella.

Crab Relleno (stuffed crab shells)

alimasag (blue crabs)
white wine
olive oil
lump crab meat
scant garlic, minced
scant onion, minced
scant red bell pepper, minced
scant carrots, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 egg, whisked
cooking oil

1) Clean the crabs, then steam in white wine.
2) Heat olive oil and add garlic and onion. Saute until onion is soft.
3) Add carrots and peppers. Saute until soft.
4) Add the crab meat and mix. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5) Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning as needed. Let cool.
6) Stuff the crab meat mixture into the crab shells. Brush the stuffing with egg (or, if you don't have a brush, use a spoon to drizzle the egg onto the stuffing.)
7) Heat oil (about 1 to 2 inches deep) in a wok. Cook stuffed crab shells in hot oil, stuffed side down, until the egg forms a layer to seal the stuffing in. Serve.