Hurray!  It’s soft-shelled crab time! They are back in season.  Soft-shells are only around for a couple of weeks, so get some and enjoy them now.  Keep it simple, with a light breading and a nice big drizzle of great Meyer Lemon-Brown Butter Sauce….mmmmmmmm…life is great!  Exoskeletons shed once a year (in order to grown) and as you know, crabs are exo’s.  These are, by the way, blue crabs.  So, after their shells have been discarded, there’s a window of only a few hours to harvest them, before their new shell begins to harden.  Those few hours are heaven for those of us who love soft-shells.

To clean or not to clean, that is the question.  You can eat soft-shelled crabs as they come out of the sea, but most of of the time people prefer to clean them.  If you’re fine eating them as is, then save yourself time and don’t bother.  For those of you with strong sensibilities, just skip right to the recipe!  For other, this is how you do it:

First—Using a sharp kitchen shears, cut across the “face” just behind the eyes.  Second—You’re going to make cut a “V” to remove the beak.  First one one side, then cut the other—the beak is really a piece of cartilage; just snip the V-shaped piece from the body.  Next—lift the “wings” on the sides.  See those spongy finger-like things there.  Those are the gills.  Slide one side of the scissors blade behind them and snip them off close the the body.  Repeat on the other side.  Finally—Turn the lovely creature over.  See the tail?  That’s the flap at the back.  Lift it up and now for the final snip, cut it off right where it meets the body.  Done!  Repeat until you’ve cleaned all of the crabs.  Now that really wasn’t that difficult, was it?  Dump all the dredging ingredients into a plastic bag; mix them up and set aside.  The amount given will do more than 2 crabs.  Just toss the bag in the freezer and use the dredge for any fish or chicken.  Julienne the lemon peel very, very finely.  Drop it into a bowl with the juice and the white wine and just set it aside.  Dip the crabs into the milk.  You can leave them soak for a few minutes if you wish.  Then drop them into the bag, close the bag and toss the crab.  You’ll notice that I mention “gently” with some frequency.  You don’t want legs falling off.  It’s never good to lose a leg!  You’ll find the coating sticks better when the coated crabs rest  for a few minutes. If you feel the coating is too thin, then recoat them before you fry them.  You want just the bare minimum of breading.  Heat the oil/butter combination in your skillet…Hey, this is a skillet dinner, isn’t it?  When the butter is just starting to brown a bit, lower the heat to medium and gently place the girls in the butter.  (I got tired of calling them crabs, sorry.)  After about two minutes turn them.  They should be golden brown.  Look at them…just inhale that aroma.  Remove them, plop them on a slice of toast and set aside.  You’ll turn up the heat now, pour in the lemon peel/wine mixture and boil it up until it thickens.  Nap the crabs with some of the browned butter and enjoy!

Dive right into these babies.  It’s important to have everything else prepared, so you can eat the shell-less blue babies the minute they hit your plate.  You want to experience their crispness.  Some people deep-fry soft shells, but I think that it takes away their delicate flavor and makes them way too rich.  These are rich.  Make no mistake about that, but they are truly a seasonal delight to look forward to each spring.

I love them served on top of a piece of toasted bread.  The bread soaks up all that lovely lemony, brown butter.  You can feel your arteries clog and you won’t care.  It’s an indulgence.  Enjoy it.  It only comes once a year and for such a short time.  Another option is to pop one onto a soft potato roll, smeared with some lemony mayo, a couple of slices of tomatoes and dig in.  That is one perfectly lovely sandwich.  I always served soft-shelled crabs with some sort of slaw.  This time I’m serving them with Sichuan Cucumber Salad.  Ah, yes…life is indeed great!