40 minutes/moderately easy/6 servings
nutrition per serving:
370 calories, 18g protein, 29g carbs, 16g fat, 9g sugar
ingredients
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/4 cup of red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1/4 cup of uncooked white rice
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons of Old Bay Seasoning
• 3/4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
• Pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups of bottled clam juice
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 lb. canned of lump crab*
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup of dry sherry, more to taste
• Fresh chopped parsley and paprika for garnish
directions
- Melt butter over medium low heat.
- Add shallots, celery, carrots and bell pepper, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the wine to the pan to de glaze the bits at the bottom of the pan.
- Whisk in clam juice and chicken broth, rice, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay seasoning, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring to a simmer, cooking until the vegetables are tender and the rice is very soft, about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Puree the soup with an immersion blender (or use a blender, working the soup in batches). Puree the soup until it is smooth and silky. I like the soup to be smooth but still filled with little bits of vegetables.
- Once soup is pureed, bring it back to a simmer over a medium low heat.
- Add in crab meat, and whisk in 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
- Add 1/2 cup of the sherry.
- Stir the soup and then it’s ready to serve! Ladle the soup into soup bowls, garnish with parsley, paprika and an additional shot of sherry if you like.
And don’t forget to serve this soup with some crusty bread!
notes
*You can add more lump crab to your soup if you’d like.
You can also thicken the soup by making a cornstarch slurry and adding it to the soup.
About the name “she-crab soup”:
Charleston’s renowned she-crab soup, attributed to a presidential dinner hosted by Mayor Rhett in the early 1900s, showcases a blend of sherry, crab meat, and the unique flavor of female crab roe, creating a dish that was innovative for its time. Recently, conservation measures have altered its preparation, allowing only the use of female crabs whose roe is retained internally, thereby ensuring sustainable crab populations while preserving the classic recipe’s essence.
I don’t use the roe in my soup, but the name “she-crab” is still widely used.
