Ingredients:
256 Tablespoon(s) water
4 1/2 Pound(s) live blue crab or dungeness; about 14 or 3
1 onion
6 clove garlic, 3 peeled, 3 unpeeled
1 whole chipotle chilies; stemmed
2 tomatoes
2 Tablespoon(s) olive oil
3 epazote sprigs
4 corn tortillas; torn into 2 inch pcs
1/3 Tablespoon(s) cornstarch
3043/10000 Ounce(s) salt |
Directions: Special equipment: a wide 8- to 10-qt heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid;
kitchen shears; cheesecloth
Cook and clean crabs:
Bring water to a simmer in pot and add crabs using tongs. Cover pot and
cook over high heat until crab shells are bright red, 5 to 6 minutes.
Transfer crabs to a shallow baking pan and reserve cooking liquid in pot.
When crabs are cool enough to handle, break off 16 claws, working over pan
to catch juices, and reserve claws, covered and chilled, for garnish (if
using Dungeness crabs, reserve 16 hind legs). Still working over pan, pull
off aprons (abdomens), legs, and remaining claws from crabs and add to pot,
then cut crabs in half, through shell, with kitchen shears (if using
Dungeness crabs, pull top shells from bodies and crack front claws with a
mallet). Dip crabs into cooking liquid to rinse off mustard (tomalley),
then pull apart shells and extract meat and any orange-red roe with your
fingers. (There are bits of meat in all the nooks and crannies.) Put meat
and roe in a small bowl and chill, covered. Add all shells and any juices
from baking pan to cooking liquid in pot.
Make broth:
Quarter onion and add 1 quarter to crab cooking liquid along with halved
garlic cloves. Boil broth, uncovered, skimming froth frequently, until
liquid is reduced to about 8 cups, about 50 minutes. Carefully pour broth
through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a large bowl, pressing on and then
discarding solids.
Make sofrito while broth is reducing:
Heat a dry well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat until
hot, then toast chile 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a blender.
Pan-roast unpeeled garlic, turning with tongs, until browned in spots, 3 to
5 minutes. Cool garlic, then peel and add to blender. Pan-roast tomatoes,
turning occasionally, until browned in spots, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile,
chop remaining onion and add to blender. Cool tomatoes, then core, peel,
and quarter and add to blender.Pure mixture until smooth. Force pure
through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.
Heat oil in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not
smoking and carefully stir in pure (oil will splatter). Cook, stirring
frequently, until thickened, about 15 minutes, to make sofrito. Add epazote
and 7 cups strained broth, then simmer soup over moderately low heat,
stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.
Add remaining broth to blender along with tortillas, cornstarch, and salt
and blend until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour mixture through cleaned
medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Stir
tortilla pure into soup and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly
thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard epazote if fresh. Stir in
reserved crabmeat and simmer just until heated through. Serve soup ladled
over reserved claws.
Cooks' notes:
We suggest ordering a few more blue crabs than needed in case some perish
en route. Begin with live crabs only.
Dungeness crab is often sold steamed. Follow recipe for cleaning crabs
and make broth with plain water.
Crabs can be cooked 2 days ahead. Chill crabmeat and broth separately,
covered.
Broth and sofrito can be made and combined 2 days ahead and chilled,
covered.
*Available at The Crab Place (877-328-2722).
**Available at Mexican markets and Ch
ile TodayHot Tamale (800-468-7377).
***We prefer Los Compadres brand, available at Latino markets and Rosa
Imports (888-377-1032).
Contributor: Gourmet September 2003
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