Moeche- little soft shell crabs- are a Venetian speciality. Found in the markets and on restaurant menus only for a few short weeks every spring and early fall, when the crabs are molting their shells. Below is a stack of them at the Rialto Fish Market this morning. Unfortunately, by my calculations, we probably will only see Moeche in the markets for about one more week, maybe two if we are lucky.
And here are some moeche we devoured for dinner on Friday evening. To cook them, the live crabs are submerged in beaten eggs. The crabs actually eat up the egg mixture, deep fried quickly, and served. Absolutely delicious!
