While I love soft shell crabs, I’ve always thought of them as single-serving food: one or two crabs per person. And when you’ve got a family of four, that can get pretty expensive pretty fast. The fish guy at my farmer’s market only had two little crabs the other day, and necessity being a mother, I figured out an easy, satisfying, and cheap way of making the most of two little crabs for a family of four:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 softshell crabs, cleaned, chopped into bite size pieces
salt
pepper
1/4 cup chopped Italian/flat-leaf parsley
lemon juice
spaghetti (we use Barilla pasta plus, for its slightly nutty flavor and high protein, non-carb crashyness)
Boil water and start cooking the pasta. Meanwhile, in a big sautee pan over medium high heat, heat up the olive oil until shimmering. Add softshell crab pieces, salt, pepper, and garlic and sautee, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until crab is cooked through. Turn off heat. Add cooked and drained pasta and parsley to sautee pan and stir until combined. Squeeze a bit of lemon over it. Taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary, and serve. (that’s sauteed chard on the side)
—Hugh
