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Fresh, Fabulous Shellfish Tacos!
Rainy Days and Sundays
July 6, 2008
Posted by Clare
I've never considered ordering shellfish online, except when buying a gift
for a client or far away friend. But after the Crab Place sent me some complimentary crab meat and lobster tails to
try, it's something I would definitely consider ordering for myself.
The Crab Place features lots of Maryland Blue Crab products like fresh, jumbo lump crab,
crab salsa, crab cakes and other seafood like shrimp, lobster and oysters. The company was started by a local Maryland
guy who wanted to share the local seafood wealth with the rest of the country.
Now before you start in on the whole "Well you got it for free, no wonder" business, let
me assure you that there was no obligation to review anything. But after seeing and tasting the products, I wanted to
share how good it was.
For my July 4th weekend dinner party, I used the lobster tail and jumbo lump Maryland
Blue Crab meat the company sent. The lobster tails were sent packed with ice packs and came perfectly fresh and ready
to cook. I simply boiled the tails for 5 minutes in salted water, put them into an ice bath to stop the cooking, then
cut up the meat into big chunks. I picked through the already-cooked crab meat then mixed it with the lobster, a bit
of Kewpie mayo, Sriracha hot sauce, diced red onion and a huge handful of chopped cilantro.
Because this shellfish meat was so fresh, I wanted to keep it simple. The key is to
highlight the natural flavor of the shellfish, not dress it up in something too overpowering. I used a very small
amount of mayonnaise and hot sauce to bind this together, and just enough salt and pepper to bring out the natural
flavors of the shellfish.
For a side dish, I made a Mexican cole slaw: Napa cabbage, red cabbage, red bell pepper,
jalapenos, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Simple and perfect for a warm summer night.
The lobster/crab mix was perfect for the DIY tacos that were the main event of the
evening. Everyone just took a good scoop of the shellfish mixture and put it into a warm, stone-ground corn tortilla,
and then added a dollop of homemade guacamole and a dash of hot sauce. The result was an incredibly fresh and rich
taco that we all raved about.
Now if that isn't the perfect summer dinner, I don't know what is. I will absolutely be
making this again and will definitely consider ordering my seafood direct from The Crab Place next time. I haven't
seen lobster tail that beautiful at my local grocery store, and Whole Foods sells it for more than it costs at The
Crab Place. The Maryland Blue Crab meat was gorgeous and delicious as well, with the meat being much more dense than
other crab meat I've tried.
Here's an "after" photo of the table - we polished off almost everything, but thankfully
had just enough of the crab/lobster left over for me to make myself a sandwich the next day (woohoo!).
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