Easy Snow Crab Recipe // Faking Fancy

A lot of times for Father's Day, I like to treat my dad to something different from the usual tie, new music album or clothes he is used to getting - like cooking a nice meal. The hunt for the perfect recipe is always difficult. My mom is an amazing cook and they enjoy eating at restaurants, so finding a recipe that feels special, grand or is a meal they don't usually eat can be really hard to do. In the past I have gone for intricate and labor intensive meals like a seafood risotto with lobster and crab, but this year I found the perfect meal to 'fake fancy' - snow crab legs in just 6 minutes.

CT had made snow crab legs for me the week before Father's Day, and when we were sitting at the tab shamelessly dipping crab into obscene amounts of butter, I couldn't help but think 'What did I do to deserve this." We started talking about the meal and I couldn't believe how easy it was to cook such a delicious dish that can be pretty pricey at restaurants. 

So I'm sharing the secret with you today, and you really only need 4 ingredients - one of which being water!

Ingredients

2 clusters per person - (a cluster is a group of legs attached to the main body)

1 lemon

1 stick of butter for dipping sauce

1/2 inch of water to cover the bottom of the pan

Cookware

Stock Pot - or a pot large enough to hold the crab your cooking with a lid on

Nice-to-Have: Crab Crackers 

Instructions

In a pot large enough to fit all crab with the top on, heat 1/2 inch of water with lemon wedges over medium-high heat until it boils. Once it boils, add crab and cover. You want as little crab as possible to be in the water. It's helpful to position the crab legs on the lemons so they aren't in the water. If some of your crab is in the water, it will just overcook what's in the boiling water. Cook for around 6-8 minutes. Snow crab is caught and cooked on the spot. It is then frozen and shipped to groceries all over, so you are trying to heat the crab up thoroughly without overcooking. 

Once crab is cooked to your liking, I like to serve each pair of clusters with a small bowl of melted butter for dipping. We served our meal with corn and an arugula, parmesan salad.

Enjoy!