[the talky portion]
I'm thinking about a seafood stew.
... ... ...
Crustacean mostly.
I'll require some cheap assed shrimp
1 whole crab
and some mudbugs
let's see... I'll design it to serve 3.
My assistant has just informed me that some of you have no idea what a mud bug is.
Crawdads
crayfish
Mussels...
I'll need a bottle of white for that
small can of tomato sauce
so I'll shell and devein the shrimp- probably half lengthwise and deleg the mud bugs and boil em. Shell the crab and get rid of the gross parts throw in the carcasses into a stew pot with salt
drain and strain remove the bonies.
Now- I'm NOT one of those people that feels mussels should be served shell on. Quite frankly I think it interrupts the flow of a soup
the flow being
grab spoon- scoop- put the delicious in your mouth.
That being said I think this would be where I would strip the remaining fins from the shrimp, and scoop out the mussels and mudbuggery.
I'm anticipating that this will be one of the most fortified shellfish broths of all time containing an entire crab carcass, several shrimpys and crawdads, so on.
So I'm trying to think what veggies to serve
garlic
onion- halved pearl onions
no brainers.
roasted zuchinni
chickpeas
Alright so
let's do this
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First, roast 4 roma tomatoes (halved and seeded) in your oven as per instructions of someone that knows how to do that.
Soak and liven up about 15-20 mussels or clams, then cook em in a pot of boiling white wine as per the instructions of someone that knows how to do that.
Cut 2 zuchinni into spears, partition those spears into about 1 inch sections/ cube or thinly medallion
chop 3/4ths of one large white oninon
mince 2 cloves of garlic
ribbon, cube, or thinly medallion 2 carrots
(cube for a more rustic succatash texture, ribbon or medallion for a more continental french approach)
Saute the zuch, carrot, onion, and garlic until they take on a little color.
When the maters are done mash em up huck it in with the veggies and get that pan off the heat or just keep it warm.
Next:
Dissasemble but do not dispose of
1 whole crab
Peel behead devein and defin 20 small shrimp
horrizontally halve about 10 crayfish
Place the crab carcass, shrimp shells, and halved mudbugs into a large stewpot, cover up to about 3/4th with water and start boiling, add salt accordingly. Wait until that broth takes on a LOT of red color.
Strain and drain put the stock back into the pot- discarding the shells.
Scoop the mudbugs out of their shells.
Mince and cube up the edible portions of the crab
Drain a can of chickpeas (because lets face it dry chickpeas soaked and thrown in taste damn near the same thing)
Mussels oughta be done by now- pull it, drain it, dig em out.
add the crabmeat, shrimp, mussels and crawdads, chickpeas, and return to a rolling bubble.
Throw in the veggies when the shrimp is nearly done and the chickpeas are soft.
To Serve
with salt-pepper to taste
Chiffonade basil
chopped fresh parsley
sour cream/goats cheese/aged hard white cheeses to taste.
Leaves of fresh uncooked spinach
Moated around white rice
Could just as easilly have kale, medallioned or minced potatoes in the mix.
