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!
6 comments:
Yum!!! How did you find out how to prepare these little guys?
Ricardo, who had a lovely little shop in Campo Santa Margharita briefly over the winter, cooked them. He gave us his recipe. These in the photo were from a restaurant though.
Tried once seafood in Italy and didnt like it, you can always go quickly to Croatia to try good schrimps. http://www.venezialines.com/
Piatto tra i più tipici di Venezia, le moèche sono una vera delizia per buongustai. Ciao e complimenti.
Very interesting, I did not know about them
I was lucky enough to sample some of these delicious crabs about six years ago on my last trip to Venice. I was fascinated to see them by the bushel in the Rialto Pescheria but at that moment having no idea what they were called or how they might be served. That night we dined at the Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie and asked that the chef prepare me a dish of his recommendation. Lo and behold, my plate of moeche arrived. Delicious and a most wonderful experience!
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