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Soft-Shell Crab Toast

5.0(153)

Broiling is perhaps the easiest way to cook soft shell crabs. All you do is oil up the crabs, lay them on a baking sheet and broil them until crisp and bronzed on both sides — under 10 minutes. It's also one of the tastiest ways to cook them: their edges crisp and char while their bellies swell with sweet, saline juices. Here, the broiled crabs are laid on toast and served as open-faced sandwiches. The toast absorbs the crab juices and also heightens the crunch. If you're pressed for time, or if you're a purist, you can skip the parsley jalapeño sauce. A lemon wedge is all you really need to bring out the sweetness of the crab.

by Melissa Clark

Open original recipe

Quick, Appetizer, Main Course

Servings

6 appetizer servings, or 3 main course servings

Total time

20 min

Calories / serving

340 kcal

Ingredients (11)

serves

2 cups packed Italian parsley leaves
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and coarsely choppedpepper
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, more as neededlemon-juice
1/4 teaspoon salt, more as neededsalt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as neededolive-oil
6 (1/2-inch-thick) slices country-style bread or pain de mie
1 large garlic clove, halved and peeledgarlic
Unsalted butter, as needed (optional)butter
6 (3-ounce) wild jumbo soft-shelled crabs, cleanedcrab
Black pepper, as neededpepper
Lemon wedges, for servinglemon

Instructions (4 steps)

01In a blender, combine parsley, jalapeño, lemon juice and salt. Add oil and 3 tablespoons water. Purée until sauce is smooth, adding additional water if needed, a tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick yet pourable sauce. Transfer sauce to a bowl and add more salt or lemon juice, or both, if needed.
02Heat broiler. Place bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil, turning once, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Rub toast with cut garlic. Drizzle with oil or slather with butter (butter is nice on pain de mie), remove from pan and set aside.