a late summer feast

We caught 63 crabs. That's a heck of a lot.

Steaming the crabs is rather easy. You need boiling water and very large pots.Shucking is a little more complicated. For easy clean up, I covered the table on the back porch with some heavy brown paper bag like material. My Mom conveniently has a large roll of this stored in her closet for various projects. Then I lined up the first batch, march of the crabs style. This process is messy and time consuming. Good thing we had 7 of us. And Bud Lights. You really have to be prepared to get your hands dirty. The meat per crab is plentiful, but there is a lot of other gunk to work your way around. Gills, intestines, cartilage. Ew sorry, but it's the truth! Keep a pot of warm water next to you for rinsing purposes, a clean bowl for the meat, and a can of Bud Light to ease the pain.

Clean up: The meat goes to the kitchen. The shells and claws etc. go right into my Mom's compost pile. Our family has always been big on composting. What is waste on our plates and elsewhere in the kitchen will be recycled back into the earth (Mom's garden soil.) The concept of throwing an article of food in the trash was once very foreign to me. College and city living definitely changed that. I digress. My Mom and her boyfriend John got right to work in kitchen. John went through all the crab meat with a fine tooth comb, removing any excess cartilage.Last year my sister and I adapted our crab cakes and remoulade using Gretchen's recipe, which is excellent. This year John prepared them while the kids played Polish Horseshoes.

Holy mother of crab cakes burgers. 

Before the crab feast we snacked on chips, salsa and homemade guacamole. Then, my Mom served up one of the most incredible appetizers to date. Crusty bread topped with a goat cheese spread / some had a Boursin cheese spread, then layered with roasted beets

I poured the tequila shots!!

Espelon Tequila Reposado is smooth and goes down easy.
We went around the circle and each toasted to something we were thankful for. Nothing like tequila shots to bring the family together in thanks. To compliment the crab, corn was roasted on the grill and a fancy caprese salad topped with pine nuts, balsamic vinegar and olive oil was prepared. Everything was so fresh - from the garden grown tomatoes, to the local corn on the cob to the sweet succulent crab meat caught hours earlier. The warm pan seared crab with crisp chunks of celery and peppers topped with a luscious remoulade was as expected, the star of the plate. The fruits of an entire days worth of labor paid off tremendously. We spent the rest of the evening in food coma around the fire pit. My Mom's adorable neighbor brought over a homemade Tiramisu. After the fullness from dinner wore off, we passed the dessert pot around. I love tiramisu!Now this is what I call summer living and eating at its finest.