Seafood kind of Night

     Lastnight was an awesome dinner with friends. Everyone enjoyed the filipino dish that I craved for sooo long and finally lastnight I got a chance to cook and eat it with friends. You might ask, why wait when you can cook it anytime? That's true I don't have to wait and I can cook it anytime but I realized that food taste even better when shared by many. Aside from that my husband is not into seafood except for fish (selected few) and shrimps mostly because he is grossed out by the sight of it and partly because of his religion. So when I found out that my american friends was feeling adventurous and would like to try my filipino crab dish, I was stoked! 

    I went to Seafood City Supermarket (Filipino store) to get Callinectes sapidus or better known as Blue crabs. I only know a few facts about crabs so I was lucky I came across an elderly who was also buying crabs. He told me how to distinguished the fatty crabs from the bunch by pressing the apron (picture below will show you where it is). Solid or full apron means more meat to hunt. He was very helpful that he even helped me fish the crabs out from the ice bucket LOL!. Below is a picture of my blue crabs that i moved to the ice cooler to keep them alive.

Alive and pinching blue crabs but not for long..

     Crab facts: It is always best to keep crabs alive until ready for cooking to avoid food poisoning. It is best to keep crabs in an ice bucket or cooler to immobilize them which gives me an impression of  drunken crabs haha!. That way they don't fight back when it's time to put them in the boiling pot of water. There is a FAQ if one should clean crabs before cooking? Generally in the Philippines, we just rinse the crab and cook it right away but now with the rising issues about sea pollutants and toxins may it be in US or Phils. its probably best to clean it before cooking. I on the other hand opted for a bit humane option by steaming the crabs then clean it because I can get squeamish if I break open the crab shell when I know it's still alive!

     Dinner was yummy. I made Ginataang alimango or Crabs cooked in coconut milk and Rellenong alimango or Stuffed crabs. I intended to keep the crab shell on when I made ginataang alimango because that's just how we do it in the Philippines (to savor every part not wasting a single bit!) but knowing I'm having american guests over for dinner, I made changes to make it look more pleasing and easy to eat (americanized filipino dish!). It sounded like a lot of work but really, it only took me about an hour to make this dish. I started by steaming the crabs for about 8 minutes, removed the top shell, cleaned it,  set the shell aside for my rellenong alimango and then I chopped the crab into half and put them in my squash and coconut milk mixture. Had it simmer while I made the rellenong alimango. I have to give credits to Panlasang Pinoy for the rellenong alimango recipe, it came out soo good!

     Since I'm  making a filipino dish, I want to make the experience also filipino-ish. So I bought banana leaves from  Seafood City and used it as serving plates making it look like a boodle fight :)

Ginataang Alimangog and Rellenong alimango

     My guests loved the tropical island atmosphere brought by the banana leaves and the seafood served. They haven't eaten blue crabs like lastnight and honestly, I wasn't sure if they were gonna enjoy the food. So we talked about our day and etc.. and before we know it, no more crabs left! Yes, you can say that we devour it all. I am pleased with myself and pleased for having cool american friends who also ate my leche flan dessert and had a red horse beer. It was an awesome Fil-Am thursday night dinner indeed!