Dungeness Crab with Artichoke and Citrus

Pick the crab carefully. If you need a little more guidance, you can take a look at this recipe.

How to Clean and Pick Dungeness Crab

Nothing ruins fresh crab like biting into a chunk of shell. Throw away everything you know about cracking crab. Let's do this the right way.

Dice the onion as finely as possible. Remove the stem tip and slice in half through the stem to root axis. Slice finely from the top, perpendicular to the sliced stem face without cutting through the root end. Then slice into the stem face several times with the blade parallel to the board to complete a hatch pattern. Slice again from the top perpendicular to the previous slice to dice finely.

Dice the carrots finely. For smaller carrots, you can just scrub them down and slice them thin. For larger carrots, you'll want to peel and dice.

Peel garlic cloves and chop or grate to a fine paste.

Slice the stem tip and it's opposite off of each of the citrus. Slice off the peel, then slice close to the membrane to remove each segment.

Peel away the dark green outer leaves of the artichokes.

Trim away the bases of the leaves and peel the tough, green portion from the stem.

Slice away the tops of the leaves, so that only the heart and the tenderest leaf portions remain.

Scoop away the choke with a spoon.

Slice the artichoke into bite-sized wedges.

Squeeze half of the lemon into a bowl of cold water. Toss in the artichoke wedges. This will keep them from going black.

Warm a healthy pour of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add the diced onion.

Add the diced carrot and cook, stirring frequently until the onion is translucent and the carrot is tender.

Add some fresh black pepper. Don't be shy. That black pepper kick does wonders in this dish.

Stir in the crushed garlic.

Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Go easy, you can always add more later.

Add the white wine and let it come to a simmer until reduced by about half.

Drain the artichokes and nestle them in the simmering vegetables.

Add enough water just to submerge the artichokes.

Continue simmering for about 25 minutes, or until the artichokes are tender and easily pierced through with a fork.

Once the artichokes are tender, transfer them to a clean dish while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Transfer the rest of the vegetables to a blender and process to a smooth puree. Season as needed with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Toss the artichokes in a small mixing bowl.

Add the citrus slices.

Add a little olive oil.

Season lightly with salt and pepper.

On a base of the vegetable puree, mound small piles of artichoke citrus salad and crab. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil or maybe some fresh parsley or chives.