Butter Poached Alaskan King Crab, Sweet Corn Sauce, Lima Beans, Wax Beans, Green Beans, Hungarian Sweet Pepper, Heirloom Cherry Tomato, Basil, Mint, Piment d'Espelette
I've professed my love for King Crab on at least one other occasion here before. I enjoy eating it at any point throughout the year for any meal of any given day. But this time of year I enjoy it even more, for one reason; it's sweet corn season. There are not many pairings in the food world, in my opinion, that are as perfect as this. They both manage to be be sweet and savory at the same time and play off of each other nicely. My last King Crab post involved sweet corn as well. Here I did something a little different with it.
The succotash began with a base of sweet corn sauce. To make it I removed the kernels from the cobs of corn and pureed them with milk, salt, sugar, pepper and saffron. I strained the liquid into a sauce pot and heated it slowly whisking the entire time. As the liquid heats up the natural starches in the corn act as a thickener. Once the liquid reached a thickness that coated the back of a spoon, I lowered the heat and buzzed it with a hand blender for a nice uniform texture. I sauteed the beans and some reserved corn kernels with the peppers and some shallot and combined them with the corn sauce as I plated everything.
The King Crab meat was carefully removed from it's shell to not disturb it's shape. I cut it into uniform pieces and lightly poached it in salted butter, just enough to warm it through since it was already cooked. I placed a piece of the crab in the bowl with the succotash and arranged some cherry tomato halves along with the basil and mint around it. I finished the dish with a sprinkle of Piment d'Espelette.
Product:
Alaskan King Crab - Ippolito's
Sweet Corn - Buzby Farms
Organic Cherry Tomatoes - Happy Cat Farm
Organic Lima, Green & Wax Beans - Culton Organics
Organic Hungarian Pepper - Culton Organic
Organic Piment d'Espelette - Cutlon Organics
Organic Mint and Basil - My Garden
The succotash began with a base of sweet corn sauce. To make it I removed the kernels from the cobs of corn and pureed them with milk, salt, sugar, pepper and saffron. I strained the liquid into a sauce pot and heated it slowly whisking the entire time. As the liquid heats up the natural starches in the corn act as a thickener. Once the liquid reached a thickness that coated the back of a spoon, I lowered the heat and buzzed it with a hand blender for a nice uniform texture. I sauteed the beans and some reserved corn kernels with the peppers and some shallot and combined them with the corn sauce as I plated everything.
The King Crab meat was carefully removed from it's shell to not disturb it's shape. I cut it into uniform pieces and lightly poached it in salted butter, just enough to warm it through since it was already cooked. I placed a piece of the crab in the bowl with the succotash and arranged some cherry tomato halves along with the basil and mint around it. I finished the dish with a sprinkle of Piment d'Espelette.
Product:
Alaskan King Crab - Ippolito's
Sweet Corn - Buzby Farms
Organic Cherry Tomatoes - Happy Cat Farm
Organic Lima, Green & Wax Beans - Culton Organics
Organic Hungarian Pepper - Culton Organic
Organic Piment d'Espelette - Cutlon Organics
Organic Mint and Basil - My Garden