GW Fins' Blue Crab Pot Stickers Recipe

We see you on the horizon, peak crab season! As a warm welcome, we're sharing the recipe for one of our first ever signature dishes, Blue Crab Pot Stickers. We hope this is a true delight for our OG Fins fans who remember what this dish was all about 😊. 

CRABMEAT, COUNTRY HAM, AND CHANTERELLE POT STICKERS IN PEA SHOOT BUTTER SAUCE

(Serves 10 as a first course)

Ingredients:

- 1 recipe Seafood Forcemeat Base (recipe below)

- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided ¼ cup finely diced country ham ¼ cup finely sliced chanterelles or shiitake mushrooms

- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, plus extra for dusting

- ¼ cup cold water

- 80 gyoza wrappers

- 1 tablespoon salted butter (or more)

- Pea Shoot Butter Sauce (recipe below), triple recipe, warm

- Pea shoots, for garnish

Instructions:

- Prepare the seafood forcemeat as for the Lobster Dumplings; keep the mixture cold. Don't add the crabmeat until later.

- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small skillet. Add ham and mushrooms and sauté until tender. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Fold into the forcemeat mixture with a rubber spatula, along with the crabmeat. Keep the mixture cold in a bowl of ice or in the refrigerator until ready to use.

- Dust a baking sheet lightly with cornstarch. Mix cornstarch with cold water in a small bowl.

- Set 2 gyoza wrappers on a work surface, keeping remaining wrappers covered with a dampened cloth while you work. Place about 2 teaspoons of the forcemeat mixture in the center of one of the wrappers. Dip a finger in the corn-starch-water mixture and run your wet finger around the edge of the wrapper to make it sticky. Top with the second wrapper, pressing along the edges to seal. Gather the edges with a thumb and forefinger as if making pleats. Curl the edges upward like a hat.

- Place on the baking sheet so the dumplings don't touch. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil on high heat. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

- Add the pot stickers all at once to the boiling water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are tender but still firm to the touch. Lift them out with a skimmer or a slotted spoon, shake dry and place on the baking sheet. Set a sauté pan over medium heat; add remaining oil then butter and quickly brown the pot stickers on both sides, working about 6 or 8 at a time. You may have to add a bit more oil and butter as you go. Ladle 3 tablespoons of Pea Shoot Butter Sauce into each of 10 heated pasta bowls. Add 4 pot stickers to each; garnish with pea shoots.

SEAFOOD FORCEMEAT BASE

Ingredients:

- 8 ounces drum or any lean white meat, very cold (place in freezer for 10 minutes)

- 2 tablespoons beaten egg, chilled

- 1 cup heavy cream, chilled

- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

- ½ cup (about ½ bunch) trimmed and thinly sliced green onions

- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

- 1 tablespoon lobster base

- 1 teaspoon kosher salt

- 4 ounces fresh crab meat

Instructions:

- Grind the well-chilled fish in the food processor fitted with the metal blade until it gathers into a ball. Blend in the egg, and then slowly add the cream in a thin stream until emulsified. The mixture should be the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Transfer to the chilled metal bowl, set the bowl in the container of ice, and stir occasionally until it thickens while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

- Heat oil to medium in a small skillet. Add green onions and sauté until tender.

- Remove from heat and let cool. Fold green onions, mustard, tobiko, lobster base, and salt into the puréed mixture with a rubber spatula. Fold in the lobster.

- Refrigerate for 1 hour. (May be covered and refrigerated up to 2 days on ice.)

PEA SHOOT BUTTER SAUCE

Ingredients:

- ½ cup pea shoots

- 1 recipe Basic Three-Minute Butter Sauce (recipe below), warm

Instructions:

- Blend the pea shoots into the butter sauce with an immersion blender or conventional blender.

- If not using within 20 minutes or so, set the cup in a small pan of water set on the lowest heat to keep warm.

BASIC 3-MINUTE BUTTER SAUCE

Ingredients:

- ¼ cup water

- 8 tablespoons (a stick) cold, salted butter, cut in 8 pieces

Instructions:

- STOVETOP AND REGULAR BLENDER METHOD - Bring the water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Place the butter in the blender container, add the boiling water, and purée until smooth.

- MICROWAVE AND IMMERSION BLENDER METHOD - Place water in a large, heary caramic coffee mug; cover with plastic wrap or a small saucer and microwave on high until it reaches a rolling boil, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and use an immersion blender to combine until emulsified.

- TIPS: Whichever method you use, feel free to add more butter as desired for a creamier sauce. If not using the butter sauce immediately, pour it into a warm ceramic coffee cup or bowl. If necessary, set the mug or bowl in a small pot of hot water over low heat to keep warm until ready to use. Leftover butter can be refrigerated, gently reheated, and reblended.