Oven-roasted Crab with Herb Butter

I love the salty and sweet flesh of fresh blue crabs, especially when served with a herb butter sauce as it accentuates the sweetness of the flesh. Its a little work to get through to the flesh, as blue crabs are typically much smaller than Dungeness or mud crabs, but its well worth it. Ive served this up with some herb fougasse, to soak up the butter sauce, but any sourdough or a dense bread will do. I've also used cleaned and cut crabs, as I prefer to let my fishmonger handle the nasty business of cutting through the top shell and removing the gills and tomalley. The herb fougasse recipe can be found at: Herb Fougasse.

Ingredients

• 2 blue crabs, cleaned and split down the middle
• 3 tbsp herb butter (with garlic, coriander, basil and pepper)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Add the paprika and a little salt to the crab pieces. Crack the claws and toss it around to have the rub coat the crab evenly. Set aside for an hour.
2. Melt the herb butter in a pan on low-medium heat, and add the garlic. Fry lightly to release its aroma, but be careful as to not brown the butter.
3. Add the crab pieces, lower the heat and toss it around so that the butter evenly coats the crab pieces. Add a little salt and pepper to taste; watch the salt though as the crab and butter have a little salt in them.
4. Place in an oven-proof dish, and place in a preheated oven at 240 degrees C/gas mark 8 for 15 minutes.
5. Add a dash of lime and serve the crab with the butter sauce dribbled over.