Mexican Crab Soup Recipes

MEXICAN CRAB SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, and add the onions. Cook, stirring, for five to 10 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute or two, until the garlic begins to color. Add the tomatoes and about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring, for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are somewhat cooked down and the mixture smells fragrant.
• Add the potatoes, the winter squash, chiles, olives, capers, bouquet garni and the oregano, and stir together for five minutes. Add 2 quarts water and salt to taste, and bring to a simmer. Simmer 30 minutes, until the potatoes and winter squash are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and/or garlic if you wish. This soup can be made up to 1 day in advance, following Steps #1 and #2, and kept in refrigerator. Then proceed with Step #3 when ready to reheat and serve.
• Stir in the crab and continue to simmer until crab is heated through, stirring and being careful not to let the soup boil or the cooked crabmeat will become rubbery.
• Just before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro, and serve with lime wedges on the side.

SPICY CRAB SOUP

Steps:

• Cook and clean crabs:
• Bring water to a simmer in pot and add crabs using tongs. Cover pot and cook over high heat until crab shells are bright red, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer crabs to a shallow baking pan and reserve cooking liquid in pot.
• When crabs are cool enough to handle, break off 16 claws, working over pan to catch juices, and reserve claws, covered and chilled, for garnish (if using Dungeness crabs, reserve 16 hind legs). Still working over pan, pull off aprons (abdomens), legs, and remaining claws from crabs and add to pot, then cut crabs in half, through shell, with kitchen shears (if using Dungeness crabs, pull top shells from bodies and crack front claws with a mallet). Dip crabs into cooking liquid to rinse off mustard (tomalley), then pull apart shells and extract meat and any orange-red roe with your fingers. (There are bits of meat in all the nooks and crannies.) Put meat and roe in a small bowl and chill, covered. Add all shells and any juices from baking pan to cooking liquid in pot.
• Make broth:
• Quarter onion and add 1 quarter to crab cooking liquid along with halved garlic cloves. Boil broth, uncovered, skimming froth frequently, until liquid is reduced to about 8 cups, about 50 minutes. Carefully pour broth through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids.
• Make sofrito while broth is reducing:
• Heat a dry well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot, then toast chile 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a blender. Pan-roast unpeeled garlic, turning with tongs, until browned in spots, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool garlic, then peel and add to blender. Pan-roast tomatoes, turning occasionally, until browned in spots, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop remaining onion and add to blender. Cool tomatoes, then core, peel, and quarter and add to blender.Purée mixture until smooth. Force purée through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.
• Heat oil in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and carefully stir in purée (oil will splatter). Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 15 minutes, to make sofrito. Add epazote and 7 cups strained broth, then simmer soup over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.
• Add remaining broth to blender along with tortillas, cornstarch, and salt and blend until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour mixture through cleaned medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Stir tortilla purée into soup and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard epazote if fresh. Stir in reserved crabmeat and simmer just until heated through. Serve soup ladled over reserved claws.