How to Cook Oven-Roasted Crabs

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 12 mins

Ingredients needed to make Oven-Roasted Crabs:

• 2 ( 4 ½ lb) large Dungeness crabs, cooked
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 tbsp shallots, minced
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tsp blood-orange zest, finely grated
• ½ cup freshly squeezed out blood orange juice
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp dried red pepper flakes, crushed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for Oven-Roasted Crabs:

• Warm up your oven to 500 degrees F.
• Beat the cooked crab with a mallet to break it into smaller pieces and clean it.
• Add a large knob of butter into a large, heavy-bottomed, oven-proof skillet, followed by a lashing of olive oil and heat them over moderately high heat, until the butter melts.
• Throw in the minced shallots and sprinkle the crushed red pepper flakes into it.
• Sauté for a minute and toss the crab pieces into it.
• Season with a pinch salt as well as ground black pepper and stir them well together along with a tbsp each of chopped herbs.
• Cook for a minute and turn off the heat.
• Pop the skillet into the oven and cook the crabs for 12 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking, until they are roasted nicely.
• Lift up the crab pieces, using tongs, onto a large serving platter and set aside.
• Pour the orange juice in the same skillet and stir in the orange zest until distributed evenly.
• Bring it to a boil over moderate heat and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce reduces to half its original volume.
• Drizzle it all over crab chunks and sprinkle rest of the chopped herbs on top to garnish.
• Serve right away.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons