Seemingly Fancy, But Fast & Cheap!

The team had an off-day yesterday, which meant I got the night off too! On my nights off, I always try to cook The Hubs dinner and I had NOTHING in the house to make. A trip to the grocery store was inevitable. While making my grocery list, I pulled out my trusty HEB weekly ad and saw they had Snow Crab Clusters on sale this week.

Crab clusters have been on sale a few times in the past couple of months, but I've always passed them up for one reason or another (mostly because they can be a bit intimidating). However, yesterday I decided to purchase & cook some for The Hubs, as they are one of his favorite things (and I felt guilty that he's eaten cereal & sandwiches for dinner this week while I've been at baseball games). I combined it with some boiled shrimp & corn and that was dinner!

This wasn't my first rodeo with crabs. A couple of years ago, while visiting our friends that live in Seattle, we had a homemade seafood feast after visiting Pike's Market. Talk about GOOD, FRESH SEAFOOD!



Anyway...Crab legs are actually really easy to cook (ahem, if you buy them at the store, they are already cooked - you're just really reheating).

What you need:

A big pot
Water
Old Bay Seasoning
Salt
Crab Leg Clusters
Shrimp, shell on & deveined
Corn on the cob
Melted Butter

What you do:

1. Put water in a big pot (enough water to cover the crab legs once you've put them in). Bring water to a boil.

2. Add Old Bay Seasoning & Salt (see below).

3. Submerge crab legs in boiling water using tongs. Cover & boil for about 8 minutes. Remove crab with tongs and set aside.



4. Drop shrimp & corn into the boiling water. Boil shrimp for 3 minutes or until done. Remove with slotted spoon or tongs. Let corn boil for another minute or two & remove.

5. Melt butter for dipping crab & sopping onto the corn!

6. Put it all on the table with some utensils for digging into the crab (kitchen shears & cocktail forks in our case - classy, right?) & you've got dinner!



And here's the best part...

For our dinner I used 4 crab clusters, 1/2 lb. shrimp, 2 ears of corn & 1/4 cup butter.

Crab Legs: 4 Clusters = 1.7 lbs. x $3.99/lb (on sale) = $6.78
Shrimp: 1/2 lb x $3.99/lb = $2.00
Corn: 2 ears x $0.50 each = $1.00
Butter: 1/4 cup = about $0.25

Grand Total for Seafood Dinner: $10.03

My Tid-Bits:

* This is a great & fun meal for entertaining. It allows everyone to sit at the table & visit while trying to crack & pry open the crab legs.

* Four crab clusters, 1/2 lb. shrimp & corn was plenty for just The Hubs & I. However, if you want to add more "bulk" to the meal, boil some small red potatoes, as well.

* Seasoning: How much seasoning you use it totally dependent on 2 things - 1. How much you are making and 2. Your personal taste. I was cooking a fairly small amount in an 8qt. stockpot & didn't want to over power the crab flavor, so I used 2 Tbsp. Old Bay & 1 Tbsp. Salt. If you like it spicy, add lots of Old Bay!

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