crab legs with creamy wasabi sauce

I scored a good deal on frozen crab legs at my local fishmongers yesterday. And although the preparation is easy-peasy I wanted to share a few tips for preparation that I have learned along the way.My crab legs were uncooked and frozen on the ship, but I have included instructions for both uncooked and precooked.

I sometimes eat crab with just the utter simplicity of clarified butter and lemon, but I also love the creamy spiciness of Wasabi sauce. The Wasabi sauce also works well combines with the left-over crab for a great crab salad in an avocado or on a toasted roll.

cooking frozen uncooked crab legs

Boiling crab legs is easy.
Add either 2 tablespoons of salt, one cup of white wine and 2 cloves of crushed garlic (optional) to the water.
Fill a large pot approximately ½ full of water depending on the number of crab legs to be cooked.
Bring water to a heavy boil. Place uncooked crab legs into the boiling water and allow the water to return to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook them approximately 20 minutes.


heating frozen unthawed pre-cooked crab legs

Put the pre-cooked frozen crab legs in a vegetable steamer or colander over heavy and rapid boiling water (fill pot about 1/3 of the way with water). Cover tightly and steam them 10-12 minutes until heated through. Pre-cooked crab legs can also be eaten cold without cooking otherwise they just need heating without further cooking.

Seafood requires a shorter cooking and because most species of seafood have a low fat and high water content they can easily be overcooked.. Too much steaming will toughen the flesh as it dries out and too much cooking when submerged in water will make the flesh soggy.

creamy wasabi sauce

ingredients

1 ½ tbsps Wasabi paste (or more to taste)

3 tbsps mayonnaise

2 tbsps sour cream

1 tbsp Tamari sauce (Gluten-free soy sauce)

1 green onion, both the white and green parts, finely minced

salt and pepper to taste

directions

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.