Steamed Snow Crab Legs

The hubby and I had a few things going on this week, including a child-care class. The hubby was the star student. ("Why do babies cry?" "Because they can!") And some friends of mine threw a lovely, fun baby shower for me, and everyone spoiled me rotten. I have really great friends. Many of them are my co-workers, as well, which makes things even more fun. I was giddy.

But giddiness is exhausting. Aside from wrapping things in bacon on Monday, I didn't really cook this week, opting instead to come home from work and sleep in my recliner. The hubby brought me food. And flowers. ("Aw, you brought me roses? And a chicken!")

So today, we made up for lost time and cooked a surf 'n' turf feast for the hubby's mom and sister. The hubby was in charge of the steak, snow crab, and salad, while I took care of the strawberry-rhubarb pie, roasted garlic smashed potatoes, and cheddar-garlic biscuits (more recipes to follow).

Why yes, we do this every Saturday at 11:45 a.m.

Or maybe not. The hubby had never had really fresh-steamed snow crab before, but was intrigued by them, so we decided to give it a go. There are a variety of cooking methods for snow crab -- steaming, boiling, baking, and grilling, to name a few. We chose steaming because, well, everyone on the interweb seemed to recommend it. And it was fast and seemed foolproof.

You should be able to find frozen snow crab clusters at your local supermarket. They're precooked, so all you really need to do when cooking them is to heat them through. But they do tend to lose flavor as soon as they're thawed. We left ours frozen until about a half-hour before we were going to steam them; then we ran them under some water to melt off the ice. Then into the steamer basket they went.

The results were excellent, or so I'm told (I don't eat seafood). But we had ourselves a nice little party, complete with seafood crackers, little seafood forks, and lots o' garlic-infused lemon butter.

And then we napped.

Steamed Snow Crab Legs
Serves 4

1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 stick butter
1 clove garlic
1 lemon, cut in wedges
3-4 pounds frozen snow crab clusters

1. Heat water to boiling in a pot with a steamer insert. Add salt.

2. Meanwhile, heat butter and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.

3. Rinse snow crab clusters, so they're no longer covered in ice, like this.

These are huge, by the way -- much bigger than I was expecting. And also a lot longer than our steamer basket. You might have to bend the claws inward, like a giant skeletal hand, to make them fit.

I found this a bit creepy. But we moved on.

4. Add crab clusters to steamer basket insert, and steam about 5 to 7 minutes, until heated through. (We went with 7, because we hadn't thawed our clusters for very long.)

5. Remove butter from heat. Remove garlic clove, and squeeze two lemon wedges into butter. Stir and pour into serving dishes.

6. Serve crab with melted butter and additional lemon wedges.