Soft-shell crabs!

We both love soft-shell crabs and when we discovered (after 10 years of living in the same neighborhood), that our local fishmonger at Jeff's Seafood had a good supply of live blue crabs, I jumped at the opportunity to cook them for dinner tonight. A+ that  we can have the fishmonger clean (or dress) the crabs! (I'm not sure that I'm quite ready for the "face-snipping" yet.)

To drink, we had a 2008 Gruner Veltliner Hefeabzug from Nikolaihof  that I've been wanting to open ever since we tried it at an Austrian-focused tasting last spring at Crush Wine. It was perfect - crisp and with enough fruit to balance out the fried seafood.


Pan-fried soft-shell crabs
(adapted from Judy Walker of the Times-Picayune on NOLA.com and inspired by the soft-shell crabs served at the Great New York Noodletown in Manhattan's Chinatown)

• 4 medium soft-shell crab, dressed
• Enough buttermilk to cover the crabs in a shallow dish
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne 
• 6 to 8 tablespoons of canola or peanut oil (enough to coat the bottom of your skillet)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Lemon wedges to serve
• 2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and thinly sliced (optional)
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves

Preparation

Soak the dressed crabs in the buttermilk for 30 minutes.

Combine the flour, salt and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Remove the crabs from the buttermilk, dredge them in the flour and shake to remove any excess.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook the crabs, two at a time for two to three minutes on each side or until they are lightly browned and cooked through. Drain on paper towels.

Garnish with parsley and jalapeno peppers and serve warm. Sprinkle with lemon juice to taste.