King Crab Legs and Claws with Butter

Ingredients

3 lbs King crab legs
1 cup butter
Pinch of salt
3 Tbsp extra version olive oil
3 cloves garlic slightly crushed
1 tsp parsley minced (optional)
1 lemon, sliced for garnish
Cocktail sauce

Directions

To thaw crab: 

1. It is recommended that crab legs thaw overnight in your refrigerator. If you are in a big hurry, king crab can be thawed under cold running water to speed this up. If you place them on a rack in a watertight container, they can drain as they are defrosting.

Steam preparation:

1. Let the water in the bottom of the steamer pot come to a boil. Then add the crab legs in the steamer and cover.
2. The crab will be heated through when you can smell them. Pick one up with a tong and touch the meaty part just to be sure that it is warm.
3. Use kitchen scissors to cut the shell to get the meat. Break the crab apart at the obvious places and then cut down the middle. The crab is very spiny, a safety glove is highly encouraged.

To prepare clarified butter:

1. Heat a saucepan using low heat.
2. Put-in the butter and allow to melt.
3. When the butter is hot enough, add the garlic and cook for a minute (do not brown the garlic).
4. Pour-in the lemon juice and stir then let stand for 15 to 20 seconds.
5. Pour-in the extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and salt (as needed) then turn off the heat. Set aside.