Snow Crabs – Food Bucket List

There was a whole mess of live snow crabs in the seafood display at the Kim Phat grocery store last Sunday. I took the plunge and bought some. After all, cooking fresh crab is on my food bucket list.

Several hours of refrigeration later, my sister Julia and I put our heads together and decided to have faith in this long but thorough snow crab preparation and cooking video. Thank you, YouTube!

Snow Crabs

• 2 snow crabs, just the legs – See video above for preparation instructions.

Take a very large stock pot and fill it 1/3 with water. When the water is boiling, submerge the crab legs, bring it back to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. After 5 minutes, remove crab legs from water.

Larger crabs need an additional 2 – 3 minutes of cooking time. Snow crab is delicious au naturel for true, undisguised flavour, which makes it a single ingredient dish!

If you prefer, you can cook the crabs whole.

What will you serve with your snow crab?

Kim Phat had a plethora of beautiful vegetables. Their snow pea leaf shoots, sugar snap peas and mini coloured peppers beckoned.

Snow Pea Leaf Shoots

• 7 oz fresh snow pea leaf shoots, washed and not completely dried
• 1 T olive oil
• 4 – 5 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
• 1/4 t Vegeta or 1/2 teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder
• 1/4 t kosher salt

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic, and stir for about a minute, then add snow pea leaf shoots, still a little damp. Toss to mix, and add Vegeta and salt. It only takes a couple of minutes to just wilt the greens. Serves 4. Delicious leftover, served cold.

Sugar Snap Peas

• 10 oz snap peas
• 2 t avocado oil
• 1 t butter
• 1/4 t lime salt
• 1/4 c chopped scallions

In a large pan, sauté the snap peas with avocado oil, butter, lime salt and scallions. Serves 4. Delicious leftover, served cold.

Roasted Mini Coloured Peppers

• 2 lbs mini coloured peppers
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 t balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 t Italian spices
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a small dish, combine oil, vinegar and seasoning.

Spread peppers in a roasting pan. Use a brush to coat peppers, then roast for 20 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the peppers continue cooking for another 20 minutes. Serves 6 – 8. Delicious leftover, served cold.

Serve snow crab and veggies with black rice.

Use a nutcracker or kitchen shears and a few seafood forks or thin skewers to assist you as you devour the crab. Do not under any circumstances allow anyone not eating crab anywhere near you as it’s best shared only with like-minded seafood lovers.

For an interesting dessert, try some rambutans.