We spent this weekend in Maryland, with Ben's family. They decided to have a crab feast Saturday night. It was my first experience, and I've got to say, it was a lot of fun but I'd rather someone else pick through the crab for me. It can be pretty disgusting! The guys didn't seem to mind, especially my youngest brother-in-law and his friend, who stayed out on the deck for hours picking through the crab and eating it. We started about 6pm and everyone was done around 8pm, but they went until the late hours... Pretty hysterical. The rain didn't stop them either.
Since my in-laws live on Kent Island (in the Chesapeake Bay) a neighbor friend's kid caught and steamed the crabs for us that morning. So they were very fresh. It was pretty cool learning how to break apart the crab and search for the meat, but after getting my hands dirty with the "mustard" inside, I was ready to be done almost right away.
As an appetizer, and to stick with the crab feast theme, I brought a recipe I found from Bon Appetit called Open-Face Crab and Artichoke Melt. When I first saw this recipe, I emailed it to my mother-in-law and suggested we make them together at her house since she lives in the land of fresh crabs! It was a perfect accompaniment to the feast.
Dessert included chocolate chip cheesecake from the amish market in Annapolis, and a peach pie brought by one of the guests along with chocolate chip cookies! Yum! It was a marvelous evening.
I'll leave you now with the recipe for the Open-Face Crab and Artichoke Melts:
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:36]
