Growing up near McKay Bay in Palmetto Beach, a neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, we were afforded the pleasure, as kids, to go crabbing for blue crabs off the seawall. Tampa is famous for their Jaibas Enchilados. Don’t confuse enchilados for the Mexican enchiladas. Enchilado means seasoned with a hot spice. But you will hear the dish pronounced Crabs or jaibas (hi-bas) in Chilao as the Spanish dialect in that region drops “ado” from words ending with those three letters. Once we caught a few dozen, one of our parents would make this dish and we would feast on these crabs served with spaghetti. Sometimes I will throw in some peel and eat shrimp.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 Dozen live blue crabs, killed and cleaned. (You can use other crabs if you like. I have made this with Dungenese crabs which is spectacular but becoming more and more less affordable. If you’re so inclined to spend the money, you will not need 2 dozen as these are gigantic crabs.)
- 4 Small cans of tomato paste + 8 cans of water
- 2 Large cans of tomato puree + 2 cans of water
- 1 Large can of crushed tomatoes
- 3 Medium yellow onions, chopped
- 1 Head of garlic, pealed and chopped
- 2 Medium green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
- 4 Bay leaves
- 1 Stem of fresh basil
- 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes (Use less if you don’t like spicy. You can always put a container of pepper flakes on the table for those who want to make the dish spicier.)
- Olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
Prepping the Crabs:
- This website from BuzzFeed is excellent for showing you how to clean blue crabs. The only thing I will add is that once they are completely cleaned I cut them in half by cutting through the middle of the bodies and remove the claws. https://www.buzzfeed.com/carmenyo/how-to-clean-blue-claw-crabs-before-cooking-2nmpl
- Once cleaned, keep refrigerated until you are ready to put them in the sauce.
Making the Sauce:
- There is no fat in the crabs so it’s OK to be generous with the olive oil. I put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a very large stock pot, and sometimes a little more. Bring the oil up to a medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion, garlic, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and bell pepper in the olive oil and saute until the onions become translucent.
- Add the tomato paste and stir fry with the vegetables for about a minute and then add the 8 cans of water and mix well.
- Add the 2 cans of tomato puree and 2 cans of water
- Add the can of crushed tomatoes
- Add the basil.
- I simmer my sauce, stirring every so often, for at least 3 hours.
- Just before you are ready to cook the crabs in the sauce, put a large pot of salted water to boil for your spaghetti or your choice of pasta.
- When the water comes to a boil, add your pasta, stir and begin the cooking process.
- At this time add the crabs to your sauce and turn your heat up to medium. You want to bring the sauce up to a bubbling simmer with the crabs but you don’t want to burn the sauce.
- Stir often until the crabs are done which should be about 20 minutes for blue crabs, more for Dungenese. I test a crab by separating one of the bodies to make sure they are done before serving.
- Lay out lots of news papers as your table cloth so diners can put their shells there and when finished, it’s easy clean up.