RECIPE

Zella's Crab Stew

  • ACTIVE:
  • TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN
  • SERVINGS: 4

Chef Sam Hayward calls this outrageously creamy seafood dish (from his grandmother's Tennessean housekeeper Zella) a soup, but it is so full of crabmeat that it's really only fair to call it a stew. Hayward makes it with Jonah crab, often marketed as peeky-toe, but he suggests cooks south of New York substitute blue crab and those in the West use Dungeness.

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  • ACTIVE:
  • TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN
  • SERVINGS: 4
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Ingredients

  • Ingredients
    1. 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
    2. 1/4 pound medium shrimp in their shells, coarsely chopped
    3. 1/4 cup dry sherry
    4. 2 cups bottled clam juice
    5. 1 cup water
    6. 1 small onion, minced
    7. 1 garlic clove, minced
    8. 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
    9. 3/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
    10. 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    11. 1/2 cup heavy cream
    12. Salt and freshly ground pepper
    13. 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over
    14. 2 cups steamed rice, for serving
    15. 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the shrimp and cook over moderately high heat until starting to brown. Add the sherry and cook for 2 minutes. Add the clam juice and water; bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat for 10 minutes. Strain the broth; you should have 2 1/2 cups.
  2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the onion and garlic; cook over moderate heat until softened. Add the paprika and chipotle; cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in the flour.
  3. Whisk the broth into the saucepan; cook until smooth, then bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat, whisking until just thickened, 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. In a large skillet, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Gently stir in the crab and cook over moderate heat, tossing a few times, until warmed through, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Spoon the steamed rice into shallow bowls. Ladle the shellfish sauce over the rice and top with the crab. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.