Fresh Crabs with a Quick Marinara Sauce

My family and I headed down the shore to relax for a quick vacation. We had a great time doing the usual Jersey shore activities of skee ball, waffles and ice cream on Jenkinson's boardwalk, swimming at Sandy Hook, and one of our family favorites, crabbing. Being from this area, I assumed everyone had been crabbing. Now, we are far from experts. Actually, the locals on the pier laughed at us from time to time, but it is something we love to do on summer nights during vacation. My husband, who grew up much closer to the beach than myself, had never been crabbing! Well, he is a now seasoned crabber!

We knew we had to cook those feisty buggers soon so I whipped up a quick marinara sauce! This crab was not quite ready to be caught, because he held on to the rope very tightly. When you are away, you need simple and easy recipes with fresh ingredients. Well, this is it. The fresh Jersey blue crabs with sauce and pasta were lovely!

Marinara Sauce

6-8 blue crabs
4 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tsp cracked pepper

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp oregano

3/4 tsp parsley (choppped)

1 1/4 tsp pepperoncino
3/4 cup red wine

1. Heat olive oil and fry garlic for one minute. Shake the pan to be sure it doesn't burn.

2. Add tomatoes, pepper, salt, oregano, and parsley slowly, stirring after each addition.

3. Continue to cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.

4. While your sauce cooks, time for crabs! Bring salted water to a boil. One at a time gently place crabs in the pot with tongs. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

4. Add red wine and pepperoncino. Continue to cook for 3-4 more minutes.

5. Toss in cooked crabs and let simmer until ready to combine with cooked pasta.