Hi! I'm Nedra! Food tastes better when it's enjoyed in the great outdoors. Life's an adventure, so travel, explore, and go cooking!!
Mustang Island –
An Unexpected Blue Crab Lottery Win
Blue Crab and Gulf Shrimp Boil
Grilled Gulf Oysters with Jalapeño Lime Butter
Every summer, that I’m not working out on the road, my brother and two nieces come to Texas for a visit. We all love to swim, so we spend most days checking out some of the different watering holes around the city of Austin, and then head to the Gulf Coast to experience a sampling of a Texas beach vacation.
Port Aransas is the destination of choice with it’s laid back vibe and the fact that you can drive right on the actual beach for miles and miles. In Port A, as it’s called, it’s the MO to bring an entire day’s worth of necessities in your car or golf cart and “camp out” for the day at the beach. Shade tents and camping chairs are erected, flags are flown, and BBQ’s are lit as beachgoers set up their world for the day. After the set up is completed, all that’s left to do is relax, swim in the warm Gulf waters, and maybe do some surf fishing – unless – you win the surprise blue crab lottery.
We weren’t in the water long before my brother noticed that blue crabs were scurrying around everywhere. I encouraged him to use my fishing net to try to catch one. After some effort, he eventually scooped one up, but concluded that the short handle of the net was a limiting factor in snaring them.
The next day we stopped and bought a long handled net. It was game on!! Within minutes, he was scooping them out of the waist high surf four at a time.
After catching over 20 crabs, we noticed that most of them had a weird orange mass on their underside. We did a quick Google search and learned that they were spawning females with an egg sponge. We also discovered that they are illegal to harvest, so we dutifully threw them back into the ocean.
We had four keepers though, enough to combine with some store bought shrimp, corn, and potatoes and have a boil. While visiting the seafood merchant, I spotted some Gulf oysters in the case and decided to grill those up as an appitizer.
We weren't camping on this trip, but I wanted to give my bro and nieces a taste of what it would be like to cook on the beach and dine alfresco. In late afternoon, we drove the ten or so miles South to the remote Mustang Island State Park. The beach was amazingly quiet compared to the Port Aransas beach where the roar of golf carts and cars whizzing by and the chatter of the folks set up beside you was an ever-present undertone. Out here, all you could hear was the crashing surf, wind, and the cry of pelicans and seagulls as they flew overhead.
It was a gorgeous evening with a steady breeze to keep us cool and a stunner of a sunset. My bro got down to the business of digging out the fire pit in the sand while I set up our dinner “camp” and prepped the meal. We used a Swedish Fire Log (see camping tips) and soon we had a fire going. I cooked up some ramen noodles and corn on the cob for the girls, since they’re far too young to embrace the delicacies of cooked shellfish.
While I was preparing our deluxe adult’s dinner, the girls got down to the business of drawing a mermaid in the sand and trying to catch baby ghost crabs in a sandcastle.
After dinner, it was time to light some sparklers and pop some Jiffy Pop popcorn. Before we knew it, it was almost dark and time to pack up and go back to our Port A beach house, but now I have a longing to go back to Mustang Island State Park and camp on the beach for real.
Here’s how to prepare this classic beach dinner:
Grilled Gulf Oysters with Jalapeño Lime Butter, Cheese, and Bacon
This is one of my favorite ways to prepare oysters. Cooking them on the grill makes for easy opening. However, it’s always a good idea to have an oyster knife handy to help pry them open and cut the meat away from the shell. The Jalapeño Lime Butter can be made ahead of time and kept cold in a plastic bag or covered container in the cooler. The flavored butter is also delicious on grilled or baked fish, steak, or even with sautéed vegetables, so save any extra and utilize it in another dish. I used a couple pieces of leftover bacon strips from breakfast to top the oysters. Easy-peasy!!
Serves: 2 Prep time: 10 min Cook time: 20 min
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6 Gulf Oysters
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½ stick or ¼ c unsalted butter, softened
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½ tsp lime rind, minced
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1 tsp lime juice
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1 tsp minced jalapeño
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1 green onion, thinly sliced crossways
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pinch o salt and pepper
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6 tbsp shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Italian Blend
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2 pieces cooked bacon divided into 6 pieces
Build a fire and allow it to burn down so there are hot coals. This will take about an hour. We dug a hole in the sand on the beach and started the fire in the hole to shelter it from the wind. Swedish Logs work really good for beach fires with a standing grill to go over it. Be sure to check local rules and regulations to be sure you are allowed fires on the beach. You can also make this dish at home on a charcoal or gas grill.
Wash the oysters well in clean water. There was no running water where we had our beach dinner, so I used bottled spring water. They were very dirty, so I had to rinse them several times in a bowl to get all the grit off.
Place the butter in a small bowl to soften. (Note: It was so hot outside that it took less than five minutes for the butter to soften, at home in the AC it might take a half an hour.) To mince the lime rind, carefully cut the green part of the rind off the lime being careful not to get too much of the white bitter pith. Then finely chop it on your cutting board. You can also use a microplane grater and not have to use a knife at all. Add the lime rind, lime juice, minced jalapeño, green onion, and salt and pepper into the softened butter. I like using a fork to do the mixing, but a spoon works too.
Once the fire has died down and the grill is hot, place the oysters on the grill. It will take about 5-10 minutes depending on the heat of the fire for them to begin to open. As soon as they’ve cracked open, remove them from the grill and put them on a plate. (Note: Be careful they will be hot! You may need a paper towel or hot mitt to handle them). Pull the top shell off the oyster and using an oyster knife cut the oyster meat away from the bottom shell to make for easy eating. Try to reserve any liquid coming off the oysters. To each oyster on the half shell, add a half tablespoon of the jalapeno lime butter, then top it with a tablespoon of grated cheese, and finally a piece of bacon. Return the oysters to the grill and cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5-10 more minutes.
Remove from the grill and serve with lime wedges.
Blue Crab and Gulf Shrimp Boil
Blue crabs are prevalent at the Texas Coast and along our Eastern seaboard. You can buy them at a seafood merchant, catch them in a crab trap, or be lucky enough to scoop them out of the ocean with a net. We got lucky! It takes a bit of work to eat them, but well worth it for the deliciously sweet meat. Bring along a crab mallet for cracking the shells, but in a pinch, you can use your bare hands and a knife. That’s what we did. Use a pot large enough to fit 3 quarts of water plus the ingredients in the boil.
Serves 2-3 Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 30 min
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3 quarts water
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¼ cup crab boil spice mix, I used Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, & Crab Boil spice mix
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1 lemon cut into quarters
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1 tbsp salt
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1 rib of celery from the leafy inner part of the stalk
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2 garlic cloves, you don’t have to peel them
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3 red skin potatoes cut in half
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2 corn on the cob shucked and cut in half
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3 whole blue crabs
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½ pound large Gulf shrimp, shell on
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2 tbsp butter
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2 tbsp lemon juice
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salt to taste
Build a fire and allow it to burn down so there are hot coals. This will take about an hour. We dug a hole in the sand on the beach and started the fire in the hole to shelter it from the wind. Swedish Logs work really good for beach fires with a standing grill to go over it. Be sure to check local rules and regulations to be sure you are allowed fires on the beach. You can also make this dish on a camping stove or at home on the stove top.
Place a large covered pot with 3 quarts of water on the grill over the fire. Add crab boil spice, lemon, salt, celery and garlic cloves. Cover, and bring to a rolling boil. You may need to stoke up the fire with smaller kindling to get it hot enough to boil. When it’s boiling add the potatoes and cook until they are just able to be pierced easily with a knife, about 15-20 minutes. Add the corn on the cob, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, making sure the water returns to a strong boil after the addition of each ingredient. Add the blue crabs, cover, and cook 5 minutes. Finally, add the shrimp and boil for 2-3 minutes until they just start to turn red. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the boil to sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
While the boil is sitting, melt the butter with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a small pot or metal bowl. Remove all the boil ingredients from the main pot into a serving container.
I like to cover the table with newspapers so that any shells and drippings can be rolled up and easily discarded. All diners can share eating out of a communal container and dipping into the pot of lemon butter.
It does take work to remove the meat from the crabs, but I find it very satisfying and soooo worth the effort. The gills should be discarded, but there is a lot of meat in the claws and sides under the top shell.
You can get step by step instructions on how to eat a blue crab