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Avocado & Crab Gratin (Japanese style?)

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There is little to say again how tasty and healthy avocadoes are.
Since we can find them all year round, try and find some crab meat, and you will able to reproduce this easy Japanese cuisine-inspired recipe:. I’m sure you will expand on it!

Avocado & Crab Gratin!

INGREDIENTS: For two people

-Avocado: 1 large and just ripe
-Crab meat: a standard small tin (about a quarter of a cup/50 CC)
-Onion (finely chopped): 1 and half tablespoons
-Lemon juice: to taste
-Mayonnaise (make your own!): 4 tablespoons
-Mozzarella cheese: 1/4 ～1/2 ball
-Wasabi (try to real one. If not available, horseradish should be ok!): 2 teaspoons (grated)
-Salt: to taste
-Pepper: to taste

RECIPE:

-Cut the mozzarella cheese into 1 cm cubes
-Take crab meat out of tin with its water (will add taste!) and drop it in a bowl with mozzarella cheese, onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, grated wasabi, salt and pepper. Try to experiment with quantities!. Mix well.

-Cut avocado in half(ves) and discard the seed.
Fill each half of the avocado with half of the crabmeat sauce.

-Bake in oven at 200 dgrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

-Eat it hot! Hot avocado is suprisingly tasty, so have this appetizer in cold weather!

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Crab Species 1: Snow Crab/Sawagani (amended & expanded)

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Snow Crabs, or Zuwagani in Japanese are very popular not only in Japan, but also in Russia, Canada and many other countries.

In Japan, they are also known under the following names: Matsubagani, Echizengani and Yoshigani.
The females are also called Seikogani, Megani or Koubakogani.
They are caught mainly in Autumn and Winter.
Their number have decreased in the Japan seas down to a yearly catch of 5,000 tonnes while 60,000 tonnes are imported from Russia and Canada.

ZUWAGANI-MALE-1

(Male Snow Crab)

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-1

(Female snow Crab)

Male and female snow crabs are equally succulent, but the males contain more flesh and are accordingly more expensive.

ZUWAGANI-MALE-2
The “thorns” of a male snow crab are bigger.

ZUWAGANI-MALE-3
The “teeth” of a male snow crab are triangular in a seesaw shape.
The female “teeth” are in a straight line.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-2
The underbelly of a female snow crabis flatish.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-3

When buying a female (10 tmes as cheap) snow crab, choose a specimen with as few eggs as possible. Above speciman just has too many!

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-4

A female snow crab should contain plenty of succulent orange egg sacs (the eggs not yet “born”). Otherwise, there is very little reason to buy any!

Crabs can be eaten in many ways, even raw, but my favourites are on sushi!

ZUWAGANI-SUSHIZUWAGANI-FEMALE-SUSHI

Male Snow crab leg Sushi Nigiri and Female snow crab Sushi Nigiri and its egg sacs!

Suwagani/Snow Crab legs, when lightly boiled can make for beautiful sushi nigiri.

Cheaper varieties can still make fr some remarkable gunkan sushi combining the boiled white flesh and “miso”/brains!

If the Japanese can get their hands on the whole crab, will simply boil it and eat the meat directly out of the shell with a sweet vinegar dressing.
As for the “miso”/brains they will be served in the shell heated again with a big helping of Japanese sake!

Now, live snow crabs make for extravagant sashimi!

The same can savoured in shabu-shabu!

Italian restaurants in Japan regularly serve it in pasta!

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow, Bread + Butter, Zoy Zhang, Hungry Neko, Think Twice, Frank Fariello, Mangantayon, Hapabento, Elinluv Tidbit Corner, Tokyo Terrace, Maison de Christina, Chrys Niles,Lexi, Culinary Musings, Wheeling Gourmet, Social Culinaire, Sushi Nomads, Cook, Eat & Share, Gourmet Fury, 5 Star Foodie

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Crab Species 4: Japanese Mitten Crab/Mokuzugani

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MOKUZUGANI-1

Japanese Mitten Crab or Mokuzugani i Japanese is also called Mokuzou, Zugani, Tsugani or Kegani.
It caught alsmost everywhere in Japan in Autumn and Winter.
In Autumn the females come to lay their eggs at river mouths.
Plenty are found along the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture.
They are caught in boxes baited with fish.

As for food, they can be eaten boiled in soups or crushed with their shell and cooked with miso. They could even be prepared as French bisque.

MOKUZUGANI-FEMALE

The female specimens are particularly appreciated for their egg sacs.

MOKUZUGANI-SUSHI

These boiled egg sacs with the meat make for delicious sushi nigiri or gunkan!

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Crab Species 3: Japanese Spider Crab/Takaashigani

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TAKAASHIGANI-1

Takaashigani/高足が二, literally meaning “Tall Legs Crab” is the largest crab in the world and is caught almost only around Japan especially in the Suruga Bay In Shizuoka Prefecture and Izu Islands, but numbers of the crab have diminished over recent years, and there are many efforts to protect them. In Shizuoka Prefecture, people even help them grow from the eggs before returning them to the sea!

Fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 lb). The crab’s natural habitat is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (some 300 to 400 m deep) around Japan, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish. It is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years.

The Japanese spider crab has 10 legs. The front two legs have been adapted into claws. It has an orange body with white spots on its thin legs. In males, the limbs on which the claws are located become longer than its other limbs, and a large male can widen them to more than 3 m. The oval-shaped and vertically rounded shell can reach 30 cm in width and can be up to 40 cm long. The compound eyes are situated on the front, and two thorns stick out between them. Younger specimens feature hair and thorns on the shell, and their frontal horns are longer, but these gradually atrophy as the crab ages.

In Japan it is considered a delicacy and prices can easily jump!
The Japanese spider crab is caught using small trawling nets, and is often eaten salted and steamed.

TAKAASHIGANI-BOILED

Interestingly enough, when bolied/steamed, not only the shell but also the flesh turns red.

TAKAASHIGANI-SUSHI

They do make for impressive sushi!

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Crab Species 2: Red King Crab/Tarabagani

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TARAGANI-KINGCRAB-1

Tarabagani or Red King Crab is caught in Autumn and Winter.
It is the most coveted of the commercially sold king crab species, and is the most expensive per unit weight. It was named after the colour it turns when it is cooked rather than the colour of a living animal, which tends to be more burgundy.

Red king crabs can be very large, sometimes reaching a carapace width of 11 in (28 cm) and a leg span of 6 ft (1.8 m) [2]. It is most commonly caught in the Bering Sea and Norton Sound, Alaska, and is particularly difficult to catch, but is nonetheless one of the most preferred crabs for consumption.

The King Crab is native to the Bering Sea, north Pacific Ocean, around the Kamchatka Peninsula and neighbouring Alaskan waters.
In Japan it is caught in the Japan Sea and neighbouring Okhotsk Sea.

In Japan 100 tonnes are caught every year, whereas 40,000 tonnes are imported, mainly from Russia!

There are so many way to enjoy this great crab!
Here are a few examples:

TARAGANI-KINGCRAB-SUSHI

Boiled as Sushi Nigiri of course!

TARAGANI-KINGCRAB-SUSHI-RAW

Even more extravagant, raw as sushi nigiri!

TARAGANI-KINGCRAB-CHIRASHIZUSHI-2

Just plain boiled on a bowl of freshly steamed rice. My favourite for its extravagant simplicity!

TARAGANI-KINGCRAB-CHIRASHIZUSHI

As Chirashizushi should please anyone!

TRABAGANI-SOUP

And how about a great soup with miso!

Naturally, there are more ways, including grilling!
I will leave it to your imagination! LOL

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Crab Species 1: Snow Crab/Zuwagani

8 Comments

ZUWAGANI-MALE-1
(Male Snow Crab)

Snow Crabs, or Zuwagani in Japanese are very popular not only in Japan, but also in Russia, Canada and many other countries.

In Japan, they are also known under the following names: Matsubagani, Echizengani and Yoshigani.
The females are also called Seikogani, Megani or Koubakogani.
They are caught mainly in Autumn and Winter.
Their number have decreased in the Japan seas down to a yearly catch of 5,000 tonnes while 60,000 tonnes are imported from Russia and Canada.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-1
(Female snow Crab)

Male and female snow crabs are equally succulent, but the males contain more flesh and are accordingly more expensive.

ZUWAGANI-MALE-2
The “thorns” of a male snow crab are bigger.

ZUWAGANI-MALE-3
The “teeth” of a male snow crab are triangular in a seesaw shape.
The female “teeth” are in a straight line.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-2
The underbelly of a female snow crabis flatish.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-3

When buying a female (10 tmes as cheap) snow crab, choose a specimen with as few eggs as possible. Above speciman just has too many!

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-4

A female snow crab should contain plenty of succulent orange egg sacs (the eggs not yet “born”). Otherwise, there is very little reason to buy any!

Crabs can be eaten in many ways, even raw, but my favourites are on sushi!

ZUWAGANI-SUSHI

Male Snow crab leg Sushi Nigiri.

ZUWAGANI-FEMALE-SUSHI

Female snow crab Sushi Nigiri and its egg sacs!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Avocado and Crab Gratin/Gratin d’Avocat et de Crabe

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avo-crab-6

Today is the second of January, and as I generally cook on holidays, I proposed the following to the Missus:

avo-crab-8

As my other half loves gratinsin any form, it was not difficult to convince her!
I’m not going to burden you with numbers, so here is the recipe, which I tried to keep simple and calorie-light!

avo-crab-1

I used bout a quarter of a yellow (yes, you heard it!) cauliflower grown locally in Asabata, Shizuoka City, cut it small enough pieces and cooked them the Missus’ way, that is, I put them in a non-stick frypan with half a centimetre of water and cocered it with a glass lid. I switched on the fire to medium and waited the water to boil. As soon as it started boiling I turned the fire to minimum, cooked the cauliflower for one minute, switched off and let it covered for one more minute. I then drained completely and held it under running cold water for a few seconds to cool down, then put them aside in a strainer.

avo-crab-21

I used a medium-sized avocado, cut it into two halves, took off the large seed by stabbing it with the “talon” of a kitchen knife and twisting it out.

avo-crab-3

I peeled the avocado and brushed both halves with lemon juice.
Next I used the equivalent of a small tin of crab meat, added some lemon juice and some sweet wine wine to it. I mixed the lot and quickly pressed the juices out. I filled both halves of the avocado with some crab meat. I kept the juices for the bechamel sauce.
I chopped a good quantity of Italian parsley and put it aside.

avo-crab-4

I buttered the inside of two glass oven dishes, put the avocado halves in the middle upside down, arranged the cauliflower around it and garnished the top of the avocado halves with the remaining crab.

avo-crab-5

I prepared the bechamel (white) sauce by making a roux with 50 g. of butter, two large spoons of flour, then added the crab juices, 200cc (one cup) of milk, 80 cc of sour cream. When the bechamel had “caught”, I added salt, pepper, theme, nutmeg and four spices and dropped in the chopped Italian parsley.
I spread the bechamel sauce allover the dishes and let it cool completely. This way the bechamel sauce will not “run out” inside the oven. I sprinkled the lot with cheese and baked it the oven at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes (or until it attains the colour needed).

avo-crab-7

We ate it with a salad just out of the oven.
I chose a fairly firm avocado on purpose for better effect when cutting it out with my spoon, but it’s up to your taste.
I’m sure anyone can improvise and improve on that!