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Snow crab and Nordic shrimp!
crab salad bouchée 

nordic shrimp asparagus radish salad with wild shoots

Now in season and widely available (not to mention a local, sustainable choice)..

I like both with just a drizzle of my Pettinicchi chili oil, or my black olive Belle Excuse oil, a squeeze of lemon and sea salt. With some good bread or garlic bread and a salad. For the first part of the season, it’s straight up.

Once the novelty fades, I’ll dress them up, mix and match. I most often make a composed salad, say with celery, dill and red pepper and lemon zest (my fave), and to make a meal, I’ll add a bed of tomato, asparagus, greens, olives, couscous, almonds, something like that… Or on a different slant, I might go for ginger, coriander and sesame, then add some peas or green beans, kimchi, egg, rice or rice noodles.

In any case, I find both Nordic shrimp and snow crab best eaten cold. I don’t really understand why people fry or serve these hot at all, unless out of the shell. Nordic shrimp are only available cooked but you can get the head on (great snacking food), or peeled and neat. Crab is best fresh and very alive, it takes about the same amount of time as lobster to cook in simmering salted water. This is obviously the best option if you want to eat them hot with butter crab-boil style where everyone gets messy cracking their crab. If you’re serving it cold, you’re still best cooking it yourself, but you can also buy it cooked. It’s a pain to clean, messy and labour intensive, but well worth it, especially if you have someone who likes doing it like my François des bois. Figure 140g of meat per crab and 1 crab per person, or as an entrée 2 portions per crab.

Just make sure you’re buying absolutely fresh (of the day, not frozen and thawed) from a reputable fish monger like La Mer or from the Gaspé stalls or fish stores at the markets (Jean Talon, Atwater).

A recipe for crab salad I posted last year around this time..

http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/whats-cooking-recipes/2007/5/9/snow-crab-or-lobster-salad.html