Soft Shelled Crabs With Charred Corn Salad And Corn Puree

• Corn salad and corn puree
• 8 cobs of Eastern Shore silver queen corn (or your freshest local variety - in season), husks and silks removed
• 3 slices thick cut bacon, cut into lardons (1/4 inch sticks)
• 1 red onion, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 yellow squash, cut into 1/3 inch slices, seeds removed
• 1 cup mixed tomatoes, cut or chunked -seeds removed. I used a mixture of yellow pear, green zebra, and red grape
• 1/4 cup basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• Soft Shelled Crabs
• 4 cleaned and dressed soft shelled crabs
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat.
2. Take 4 cobs of corn and cut the kernels off the raw cobs. Add the kernels and the clove of garlic to the bacon fat and saute until cooked, about 8 minutes.
3. Off the heat, add the milk to the corn/garlic. Place the mixture in a blender and blend well, about 1 minute until very smooth. Season for salt - depends on your bacon, mine needed just a dash, and add pepper.
4. Heat the grill over medium heat. I used a flat grill basket to place the onion slices and the squash and keep them flat. Splash the onion and squash with olive oil and season with salt. Cook until golden and cooked through, about 10 - 12 minutes.
5. While the squash and onions are cooking, directly grill the remaining 4 corn cobs over the grill, rolling about every 4 minutes until slightly charred and cooked through.
6. Slice the tomatoes (you can leave small grapes whole if you want) and place them in a bowl, sprinkling with about 1/4 teaspoon of salt to let some of the juice release. rnrnWhen the corn is cool enough to touch, cut from the cob.
7. When the corn is cool enough to touch, cut from the cob. Roughly chop the squash and onion. Add corn, squash, onion, bacon, basil, olive oil, and vinegar to the tomatoes and toss to combine. Check for seasoning - it will depend on the saltiness of your bacon and how much you put on the veggies for cooking.
8. Rinse the crabs and pat dry.
9. Mix the Old Bay seasoning and flour in a shallow bowl. Place the beaten egg in another, separate, shallow bowl.
10. Dredge each crab in the egg then into the flour mixture, shaking off the excess and placing it on a plate.
11. Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium - medium high heat (I use 6 on my stovetop).
12. Add the crabs and cook on each side 4 - 5 minutes until crispy, golden brown, and delicious.
13. On a plate, pour half of the corn puree and spread in a circle. Top with 1/3 of corn salad. Place two crabs on top of the salad. Enjoy the salad and the puree as a sauce for the crab.

salad, eastern shore, bacon, red onion, yellow squash, mixed tomatoes, basil, milk, champagne vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, clove garlic, crabs, egg, flour, bay seasoning, olive oil, butter

Taken from food52.com/recipes/13642-soft-shelled-crabs-with-charred-corn-salad-and-corn-puree (may not work)