The joys of Galveston--Stone Crab

During my first trip to Katie's fish market on Thursday,  I watched a local fisherman deliver an overflowing cooler of fresh stone crab claws to the market. The crabs were weighed out on the spot and a man handed the fisherman a stack of twenty dollar bills. After witnessing the delivery of fresh crab from the Gulf of Mexico, I knew I had to come back the next day to buy those crab claws and other ingredients to make a seafood paella.  When I went to the fish market on Friday, I bought 12 stone crab claws and two pounds of shrimp intending to make a seafood paella. But family plans changed and I used the shrimp for ceviche, and was too busy to return to the fish market for more ingredients. Luckily, my mother, the master paella cook, is here in Galveston and used the stone crab to make a paella with lump crab meat.

We followed this recipe of Paella rice with spider crab and peas, using instead the meat from the stone crab claws.  The stone crab claws where extremely hard to open--I think the crabs were named for having bodies as hard as stones. It took a series of serious whacks with a hammer to break the shell, but the reward was large chunks of a very sweet crab meat.  I wanted to share a few pictures of the preparation of this fabulous paella before I transition to vegetarian meals from my new favorite book. 

 

Note to readers: I just bought How to cook everything vegetarian by Mark Bittman so the next few posts will be sourced from that book.

Welcome to Galveston

I'm back from my 6 month hiatus...for now at least.  I have moved from Washington, DC to Galveston, Texas, and I start classes on Monday, August 29, at University of Texas Medical Branch.  I sorely miss Washington, DC and all of my friends there,  but life in Galveston is looking up. I am starting medical school, a day I thought would never come, and I live in a house with perfect location that is 10 minutes from a beach and even closer to a fish market.

This morning I went to the Katie's Seafood market on pier 19 and bought 12 stone crab claws and 2 pounds of gulf shrimp.  As a first year student, I anticipate being short on time from now until at least next May. Thus, I thought it appropriate that my first blog post from Galveston be a time saving recipe--quick and easy shrimp ceviche. Though ceviche is simple to prepare, in order to denature, the raw fish has to stew in the lime or lemon juice for at least 3 hours. In my ceviche, the shrimp is pre-cooked and the mixture only has to sit for an hour to develop flavor.

Ingredients:
2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 cup lime juice, about 8-10 limes
5 green onions, sliced thinly, going a few inches into the green
1 red jalapeño and 1 green jalapeño, minced (I only used half of the green to limit the spiciness)
1 cup cilantro (about a handful), finely chopped
10+ cherry tomatoes, quartered 
salt, pepper, olive oil

For Serving:
tortilla chips
salsa


1. Peel and clean the shrimp. For aesthetics, I sliced the shrimp in half lengthways.

2. While cleaning the shrimp, fill a large pot with 4 inches of water. Once the water comes to a boil,  set a metal colander in the pot.
3. Add the cleaned and sliced shrimp to the boiling water. Cover the colander and steam the shrimp for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the shrimp are white and pink. Remove the shrimp from the water and set aside to drain and cool. When cooled, transfer the shrimp to a flat dish; I used an 8x8 pyrex dish.

4. Juice the limes into a measuring cup.

5. Slice the scallions, mince the jalapeños, and add them to the measuring cup with the lime juice to soften while you chop the cilantro and quarter the tomatoes.
6. Pour the lime juice mix onto the shrimp and toss, making sure to coat the shrimp.

 7. Add the cilantro and tomatoes, toss again. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

8. Let the ceviche sit refrigerated for at least an hour, you can leave it for longer for stronger flavor. 
9. When you are ready to serve the ceviche, use a sieve to drain only the lime juice from the shrimp. Transfer the shrimp back into the serving dish, sprinkle with about two tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat the shrimp.
--The olive oil helps smooth out the bite of the lime juice, but if you like the sour bite, reserve some of the lime juice and mix it with the olive oil and make a dressing to coat the shrimp.
10. Serve the ceviche with tortilla chips and your favorite salsa.