Some of my fondest food memories are from the Jersey Shore. “Down the shore” is where you’ll find some of the best fast food in our country. I’m sure you’re salivating right now just thinking about the sausage and peppers sandwiches, pizza, zeppole, clams on the half, Kohl’s custard…and the list goes on and on. Along with all this boardwalk food, I’m sure that we all have memories of the food cooked by our mom’s, grandma’s and aunts.   The food that we ate, after a hard day of sun and fun, was simply amazing. While we children were playing on the beach, our mom’s and grandma’s were cooking up a storm for their families.   When I reminisce with friends ( you might have to be Italian for this), the dish that always seems to come up as an all time favorite, is crab sauce over pasta. The crabs were right out of the bay, cleaned and made into a sauce that most of us still dream about.

All these decades later, I still dream about this sauce, but I’m lucky enough to have a husband who enjoys catching the crabs, cleaning them, and then turning them into a sauce that will linger with you forever.   It’s hard to get it out of your mind once you’ve had this crab sauce dripping from your mouth and fingers. Half the fun is breaking apart the sauce-covered crabs with your hands, and digging in to get every morsel of crabmeat. We spend hours at the table making memories to last a lifetime.

I’ll show you the entire process, bay to table, but most fish stores ( at least in New Jersey), will order bushels of jersey crabs for you, if you ask.

In the words of Bruce Springsteen, “down the shore everything’s alright,” especially the crab sauce.  Well, he didn’t mention the crab sauce.

RECIPE:

1. Please see recipe for marinara sauce in the “pasta archives.”
2. Add fresh or dried rosemary to the sauce.
3. Add as many cleaned crabs as your pot can hold.  Cook for 45 minutes.
4. Cook spaghetti al dente, drain, and cover in sauce.
5. Serve crabs on the side.
6. You’ll need a roll of paper towels on the table