Recipe courtesy of Chatham Bars Inn chef de cuisine Christopher Jenkins.
Ingredients
- 1 quart plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil, separated
- 4 6-oz filets black sea bass (skin on)
- salt
- 8 soft shell green crabs (cleaned)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup seasoned flour (recipe follows)
- 16 oz green crab bisque (recipe follows)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 Fairy Tale eggplants, halved lengthwise
- 4 Jimmy Nardello peppers
- 4 Shishito peppers
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp each onion powder & garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup Spanish onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup celery, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 tbsp chopped ginger
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 8 oz dry white wine
- 16 oz water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp fennel seed, toasted
- 1 lb live green crabs, rinsed/cleaned
- 16 oz green crab stock
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup Spanish onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 oz heavy cream
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- ¼ cup jasmine rice
- ½ tsp fennel pollen
Preparation
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients to combine.
Green Crab Stock
Combine all ingredients except crabs in a 4-quart pot. Bring liquid to light simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Add cleaned crabs and cook for 10 minutes. Remove crabs from stock, and let cool slightly. Clean crabs by removing gills and aprons, then return cleaned crabs to the stock. In batches, in a blender, puree crabs into stock, then strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into a new clean pot.
Green Crab Bisque
In a 4-quart pot, melt butter until it begins to lightly brown, then add bell pepper, onion and garlic, and cook over medium low heat until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add the heavy cream, green crab stock, rice, paprika and fennel pollen and simmer for 20-30 minutes until rice is very soft. Remove from heat and, in batches, blend the mixture and strain through fine mesh strainer into sauce pot. Keep warm if going to use right away or chill and refrigerate for later use. (Bisque may be made a day in advance.)
Preheat oven to 350° F. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 quart of vegetable oil to 350°. In a 2-quart saucepan heat the green crab bisque. In a large saute pan, heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, season the fish filets with salt, then begin to sear in the saute pan skin side down over medium heat. While fish is searing, in separate saute pan, over medium heat add 2 tbsp olive oil, and place cherry tomatoes and eggplants, cut side down, along with peppers. Once the vegetables begin to sear, move pan to oven for 3-4 minutes to finish cooking. While vegetables are in the oven, once the fish skin is golden brown, flip fish over with spatula and cook on flesh side for 30 seconds more, then remove from pan and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to rest. Once the fish is resting, while the vegetables are finishing in the oven, dip the soft shell crabs in buttermilk, then coat them in the seasoned flour, shake off any excess flour and then fry crabs in 350° oil for 1½ minutes. While crabs are frying, remove vegetables from the oven, season lightly with salt and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel. Finally remove fried soft shell green crabs from oil, and transfer to another plate lined with paper towels, season with salt.
To plate, take 4 large wide bowls, place a piece of fish in each. Next place some eggplant, cherry tomato and peppers around each piece of fish, then garnish with 2 fried soft shell green crabs on each plate. To finish, top the fish, crab and vegetables then pour ½ cup of crab bisque in each bowl, and serve immediately.
