Michele's Winner PJ Party

Last Saturday night, Michele hosted her PJ party...needless to say, it was filled with awesome company, great food, good wine and delish desserts. Although everyone brought something to add on to the menu, here are the dishes Michi personally prepared for her guests. We filled our tummies with these palatable indulgences until we can hardly breathe...


Killer Whole Dungeness Crab Roasted in Garlic Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
2 whole crabs (2 plus pounds each)
Crab butter
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped medium shallot
1/2 sprig rosemary (chopped)
1 sprig thyme, leaves chopped
2 tablespoons Szechwan peppercorns
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon garlic salt
8 to 10 garlic cloves, roasted and pureed
Chopped parsley, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Crabs:
Depending on where you get the crabs they could be alive or preboiled (I recommend live crab because it tastes fresher). If they're alive, place the crabs in boiling water for 5 minutes (until red in color). Remove from pot and cool them in iced water (quick cool). With your thumb and index finger pry open the head, remove innards and save. Under running water wipe clean the head area.

Crab innards:
In a blender add the innards with 1/4 cup of white wine, blend on pulse, strain, and save. In a pot on medium heat add olive oil, shallots, rosemary, thyme, and peppercorns. Cook until light brown, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of wine. Add the blended crab innards, the canola oil, and the garlic salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Skim the top, remove from the heat and cool for a few minutes. Strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. Whisk in the garlic puree and let rest.


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the 2 crabs in a large oven-proof skillet, ladle the crab butter over them, (be generous) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Set the crabs on your serving dish, sprinkle with garlic salt, put the empty head shells back on (you can brush the shell with olive oil to shine) sprinkle. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.



NOTE: I strained the crab innards in the first step, but in the second step, insteading of straining, I blended everything including the roasted garlic in a blender. I found that you lose valuable sauce if you strain it.

Garlic Noodles



INGREDIENTS:

For the sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sriracha
2 tablespoons michiu (rice cooking wine)
3 tablespoons kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
2 tablespoons mirin

For the noodles:
1 pound fresh egg noodles, chow mein thickness
3 ounces unsalted butter
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 pound meat from a 1 1/2- to 2-pound Dungeness crab (Optional)
Reserved crab "butter" (Optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Chopped cilantro, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside. Boil 3 quarts of water, and cook egg noodles to al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse in cold water and set aside. Combine butter and garlic in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Once butter begins to brown and garlic gets fragrant (about 1 minute), add the egg noodles and stir until butter coats them evenly. Turn heat to high. Continue to saute for 3 minutes, adding the sauce mixture and combining evenly with the noodles. Once noodles have been cooked through (2 minutes), add the crabmeat and "crab butter" (if using), and cook for an additional 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice. Serve noodles on a plate, top with cilantro.

Green Papaya Salad

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups shredded fresh green papaya, use a Pro-Slice Thai peeler or Miracle Knife.
3 medium roma tomatoes, or use a few more if you can find cherry tomatoes
A handful of fresh string beans cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tablespoons dried shrimp4-6 fresh Thai chiles, remove stems3-4 cloves garlic2 tablespoons fish sauce2 tablespoons palm sugar2 tablespoons fresh lime juice2 tablespoons juice of pickled mud fish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Peel fresh green papaya, rinse the white milk off, pat dry, then shred the whole papaya. Sprinkle with a bit of salt then rinse it off and drain. Keep 2 cups shredded papaya out, and put the rest in a sealed container for later use. Slice tomatoes thinly. In a clay Lao-style mortar & pestle, coarsely pound the fresh chiles (whole) and garlic. Add string beans and sliced tomato, and pound it lightly (do not over-crush). Add dried shrimp, fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice. Add these items spoon-by-spoon, and taste as you go. If you want to add peanuts, add now and lightly pound (optional). If you want to add pickled mud fish (pla ra), add two tablespoons of juice (optional). Add shredded papaya and pound together until mixed well. Serve on a dish with fresh cabbage and string bean
NOTE: I did not pound the ingredients together. I only mixed them. I also did not use the pickled mud fish.