Wine and Dine

Dungeness crab holiday meals

4 live or cooked Dungeness crabs (if using cooked crabs, skip to second step)

Bring pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Place live crabs into the water for 8 minutes. Remove and place into a ice bath to cool for about 10 minutes.

Separate the claws and legs and put them on ice. When cool, extract the meat with a pair of small scissors; serve these on a platter with some dipping sauces (see below) and cut lemon. Separate the head from the body and extract the meat from the body cavity. Crack the shells and reserve all the scraps for the soup. Keep all crab meat on ice when working with it, and in the refrigerator when not.

Dungeness bouillabaisse

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 3 carrots. peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
• 1 apple, sliced
• 1 head fennel, sliced
• ¼ cup Pernod (anise liqueur)
• 1 cup white wine 
• 6 cups fish stock

• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander seed
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 tablespoons saffron (optional)
• 1 cup cream
• salt
• reserved meat from the crab bodies
• 1 pound mussels, cooked
• 1/2 pound sable filet (or any white fish)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil over moderate heat in a large saucepan. Add the crab shells, raise the heat and cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Next, add the shallots, carrots, sliced apples and fennel and cook until they release their liquid, about 6 minutes. Deglaze with the white wine and Pernod and burn off the alcohol.

Add the fish stock and spices and cook at a simmer for 4 minutes. Strain in a colander, pressing the solids to extract the maximum amount of the liquid without forcing too hard. (You just want the clean flavor.) Reserve 1 cup of the broth before you add the cream for the pasta dish.

Return to a clean saucepan, add the cream and reduce to the desired consistency. Then bring to a gentle simmer and add back the body meat, as well as the fish and shellfish of your choice. Adjust the seasoning.

Ladle the soup into the hot bowl and garnish with the fennel pollen, upland cress (watercress works, too) and serve with crusty bread.

Dungeness pasta

If using fresh pasta, cook in boiling salted water for 4 minutes. If using dried pasta, refer to instructions on package.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crab stock
• 3 tablespoons diced, cold butter
• Lemon
• Picked parsley, dill, tarragon

Directions:

Put crab stock to a large saucepan and heat to a simmer; swirl in the cold diced butter until the sauce comes together. Adjust the seasoning.

Add the cooked fresh pasta right into the sauce and toss. Next add the crab meat and take off the heat. Finish with fresh lemon juice and herbs.

Dipping sauces for the claws and legs

Cogley suggests using a variety of sauces, such as a whole-grain mustard and mayonnaise mixture, cocktail sauce and aioli.

By Anthony Lazarus, news editor for MarketWatch in San Francisco.