Louisiana Pan Roast with Shrimp and Crab

This obsession started a few years back when I happened to stumble upon the Oyster Bar in the Palace Station in Las Vegas.  Truth be told, I now go to Vegas to hit up the Oyster Bar.  It's not a successful Vegas trip without a stop (or two) at this place.  Here's a link to the Oyster Bar on Yelp. Click here.

So if you clicked on the link and poked around, you'll know that everyone is talking about their Pan Roasts.  What is pan roast you ask???  It has nothing to do with beef at all.  It's more like a super, rich and decadent seafood chowder-zilla.  It's tomato based with cream and wine.  And brandy if you have it!  It's served with pasta or rice.  rice. rice.  Rice is the way to go, if you ask me, but pasta is good too.

There are versions that use lobster, oysters and even andouille sausage.  I chose to use shrimp and crab.  Here it is in all it's crab and shrimp glory.....

You're gonna need to grab:
fresh or frozen raw shrimp
fresh or canned crab (or both!)
fish/seafood stock
onion
bellpepper
garlic
celery
tomato paste
heavy cream
cooking sherry or white wine or brandy
butter
flour
cajun seasoning
black pepper
Old Bay Seasoning
hot sauce
crushed red pepper

***since this post, I have replaced the wine with brandy and it is divine!  I also put it in before the stock and let it cook off a bit.  Both is good.  Brandy adds a little more complex layer of flavor.

So I happened to have left over crab from a family meal.  These were rock crab.  But you can use dungeness crab if you have it.  Or you can just use canned crab too.  I used BOTH for this recipe because that's how I roll.

 I carefully picked all the meat I could from the left over crab.  I ended up with about this much:

This was about 1 cup of crab meat.

I used all the shell from the crab and boiled it in a 1 quart saucepan with about 5 cups of water to make my own seafood stock.  For those of you who are familiar with fresh crab, you know there is like a bunch of yellowish, greenish stuff inside the carapace (the part that all the legs are connected to).  Don't throw it away.  You don't need to scrape it out.  It's perfectly good for eating.  In fact, trust me when I say it makes your seafood broth reallllllly rich and yummy.  Trust me.  While that's boiling, cook your rice.  I use long grain rice for this.  Short grain will just get mushy.

I also used this can of crab meat.  You can never have too much crab.  Really.

So while the shells are boiling on medium to medium high heat, I chop up my veggies.

I cut up one medium onion, one green bell pepper and three stalks of celery.

I also put aside a pound of frozen but raw shrimp in a bowl to defrost.

These are your seasonings.  Get them ready to go.

So after about 45 minutes, I strained the shells from my stock and ended up with over 2 cups of this rich seafood broth.  

Now it's time to start!!

In a heavy pot or dutch oven, melt one entire stick of butter over medium heat.

To my melted butter, I added my diced onion, bell pepper, celery and a HEAPING spoonful of fresh crushed garlic.

I'm a huge believer in seasoning as you cook so I do that now.  I add black pepper and  cajun seasoning.  Use as much or as little as you want.

I also like this dish to be nice and spicy so I also add a handful of crushed red pepper.

I added a good amount of Old Bay seasoning.  It's a perfect blend of herbs and is the standard for cooking seafood.

Once your veggies are translucent, I added two heaping spoonfuls of flour.

Saute your flour for about a minute and until it starts to stick to the pan.

Remember your shrimp?  Add that now.

Add your seafood stock.  If you're using canned, that's okay.  Canned is good too.  I just happened to have crab to make homemade seafood stock, but you don't have to.

Now I add my white wine.  You don't have to spend a lot on wine.  

I just try to use a more drier white wine.

Look, I got this one on sale for $2.99 at Target.

I added about a cup of wine to my pot and about a cup into my mouth.  Just kidding! I also like to put in a good shot of brandy if you have it on hand...in the pot not your mouth.  Just saying.

At this point you will be tempted to eat it as is, but refrain!  It gets better.  Keep going.

Bring to a boil and then add your tomato paste.  I used a 6 ounce jar.  The entire thing.

Once your paste is dissolved, add your crab meat (both fresh and canned).

Allow your pan roast to do a gentle, rolling boil for about 5-7 minutes.  

The wine needs time to cook off a little bit. (You could drink some wine while you wait!!!! Brilliant)

Then you hit it with some heavy whipping cream.  I used about a quarter of a cup.  You can use more.  I know for a fact that the Oyster Bar in Vegas uses a LOT more....but not getting heart disease is kind of nice too.  "Live to eat another day!" I always say.

And that's it.  Serve with rice or over pasta.  Now the mouth party begins.

Not as good as the Oyster Bar in Vegas.  But pretty close.  

Try dipping some crusty bread in it.  Try not to burn your tongue as you hoover it into you mouth.