Salt-and-Pepper Dungeness Crab
(courtesy of Scott Lee, retail manager, Sierra Gold Seafood in Sparks. Serves 2)
This crab dish is based on a signature recipe with Thai flair that hails from the Pacific Northwest. All these bold flavors will have you slurping crab meat from its shell and licking your fingers. This recipe has been slightly simplified to start with pre-cooked, cleaned, portioned crab. For big appetites, double the quantity of crab and spices, serving a whole crab per person.
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Szechuan pepper, lightly crushed
¼ cup peanut or vegetable oil
1 Dungeness crab (about 2 pounds), cooked, cleaned, and portioned with shells lightly cracked
Nam Pla Prik sauce (recipe provided)
In small dish, combine salt, black pepper, and Szechuan pepper, and stir to mix. Heat oil in wok or large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Carefully add crab pieces in their shells and stir fry until they are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle the spice mixture over crab and continue stir frying until they are evenly coated in spices and give off a slightly toasty aroma, about 1 minute longer.
Transfer crab to warmed serving platter and pour Nam Pla Prik into individual bowls for dipping. Have a discard bowl available for shells, and provide plenty of napkins.
Tips: Szechuan pepper is not related to black pepper; it is the dried berry of the prickly ash tree. You’ll find it in specialty spice or Asian markets. Fish sauce is a pungent, salty liquid with an amber tone that is used in Southeast Asia and can be found in well-stocked grocery stores and Asian markets.
For Nam Pla Prik
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
6 Thai green chiles, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
For this traditional Thai sauce, combine fish sauce, lime juice, chiles, and garlic in small bowl, stir to mix, and set aside. The sauce can be made a day or two in advance and refrigerated.
