Ybor City Deviled Crab Food

DEVILED CRAB CROQUETTES

Steps:

• Croquette Dough: About 4 hours before serving, make dough. Break white bread into pieces, place in a large bowl, cover with water and soak for 15 minutes. (I used about 2 cups of water. I poured 1 cup of water over the bread and then mixed it before adding another cup of water. I also let it sit for about 30 minutes, not 15, and got very little excess water this way) Drain water and squeeze soaked bread until almost dry and return to bowl. Gradually add sifted Cuban bread until mixture reaches dough consistency. Add paprika and salt, mix thoroughly. Form dough into ball and refrigerate 2 hours.
• Make filling: Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic and hot red pepper, and saute very slowly 15 minutes. Add bay leaves, sugar, salt, water and tomato paste and stir. Cook uncovered 20 minutes or until all of the water has evaporated. See picture above, you should be able to drag a spoon thru and no moisture remains. Stir in crab, and heat a few minutes. Remove bay leaves. Place mixture on platter, and refrigerate 2 hours.
• To assemble: After dough and filling have chilled, make croquettes. With your hands, take about three tablespoons of bread dough, press, add one tablespoon of crab filling and seal dough around filling like a croquette with pointed ends.
• In a small bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. In another bowl, mix Vigo Italian Style Seasoned Bread Crumbs and flour. Roll croquettes first into breadcrumb mixture then into egg mixture then into breadcrumb mixture again. Refrigerate 2 hours.
• When ready to cook, heat oil in a deep heavy saucepan or a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Place croquettes a few at a time in the hot oil, and fry until light brown.

CROQUETAS DE JAIBAS, ESTILO YBOR (YBOR CITY'S DEVILED CRABS)

Steps:

• Dough Recipe: The dough must be prepared and refrigerated, preferably overnight. Remove crust from bread; soak in water for 1/2 hour. Drain and squeeze thoroughly. Add paprika and salt. Add the bread crumbs and work to form a dough, place in refrigerator to chill thoroughly.
• Crab Meat Filling: Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion and green pepper until transparent. Add the garlic and saute all until soft.Combine salt, hot sauce, sugar, bay leaf, parsley, tomato sauce and the nutmeg. Add to saute and mix well. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hr (add water if needed during cooking time). Add the crab meat and sherry. Mix well and cook covered another 10 minute Cool and refrigerate.
• Preparation of the Croquettes: Remove dough and filling from refrigerator.Take 2 generous tablespoons Of dough in palm of your left hand. Indent with the back of a spoon in the center enough to fill with a tablespoons Of crab meat filling. Work dough around filling to form a croquette.
• Prepare a mixture of 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons Of water, salt and pepper and beat. vigorously. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs with 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. Mix well. Dip croquettes first in the egg mixture, then roll in the crumb flour mixture to coat well. Place croquettes side by side in a shallow dish. Cover with Saran Wrap or foil and refrigerate at least 1 hour before frying in deep fat.(Make sure you have lots of your favorite red pepper sauce available to pour onto them, it makes them even more delicious.).