We are excited to present our crab-centric version of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, and to celebrate the sea. The Feast of the is widely celebrated on Christmas Eve in the Italian-American community, especially in New Jersey, where I live. We hope you enjoy the recipes and have a wonderful Holiday Season and the best of wishes in 2022. For those not in the know a little explanation of the tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes;

The ancient tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve dates from the Roman Catholic custom of abstinence from meat and dairy products on the eve of certain holidays, including Christmas. The number seven is rooted back in ancient times and it can be connected to multiple Catholic symbols: in fact, the seven seems repeated more than 700 times in the Bible. Also, according to the Roman Catholic Church, seven are the sacraments, the days of the Creation, as well as the deadly sins. Hence seven courses!
Flash forward to the early 1900s, when the official “Feast of the Seven Fishes” first emerged. Italian-American families rekindled the Old Country’s Christmas Eve tradition by preparing a seven-course seafood meal (hence the name of the newly found tradition) that both made them feel close to their homes, while celebrating the sea, a major connection in Italy. Today, it’s considered one of the oldest Italian traditions — but we give America credit for that!

Happiest of Holidays,
Chef John & the Entire Newport Team

We are always thinking of new ideas for how to use our delicious crab meat. Crab isn’t just for special occasions, it can make an excellent, easy and affordable luxury weeknight meal that your family will love. Enchiladas are one of my families favorites and we do some version almost every week, however, have recently moved to a casserole, stacked, style, as opposed to the traditional rolled style. It is a win-win as it is much faster & easier to make and everyone seems to prefer the casserole style over the traditional, winning. It also reminds me of the casseroles that I grew up on as a kid in Texas, specifically King Ranch chicken casserole. For these recipes I am using our newly restyled Pacific Cove 8oz cups, which make 4 entrée size portions. Besides the crab, the other ingredients are basic grocery items, canned tomatoes and green chilies, frozen spinach, premade enchilada sauce, cheese and some corn tortillas. A crab-centric dinner for 4 on the table in about 30 minutes and for about $6 a portion, sounds like a home run. For the recipes I used our Special (white meat crab) and Claw (dark meat crab) and paired the ingredients to match the sweet mild flavor of our special crab and the more flavorful claw meat with some mold bold flavors. Both recipes are really simple and can be adjusted to suit your taste.

We hope you enjoy,

Chef John

Well we are coming upon the final big weekend of the summer with Labor Day. I like many other people have taken on some new projects during the past 18, or so, months. I am usually on the road sampling and selling our crab meat all over the US without allot of free time for things like become an “urban farmer”. It started with growing a few herbs in the windowsill, to moving to a standing planter, to multiple planters. Then came the chickens. At the beginning of the summer we drove out to a farm in central New Jersey to pick up our two day old baby Silkie chickens. My wife had promised there were only four, but somehow we got an “extra” one. From there our garage turned into a giant incubator system with various containers, heating plates, even a small pup tent that my Father in Law used his ingenuity to connect with a series of chicken tunnels. The chicks have moved out into their new fancy coop and soon I will be able to share a video of a crab cake with Hollandaise using my very own eggs! This was a picture from a recent recipe that I think captures the spirit of the end of Summer, a velvety corn and leek bisque (made with local NJ corn, however, my wife did ask about planting some corn for the chickens, stay tuned) and finished with some of our delicious crab meat and a drizzle of pesto.

The Newport International sales team is getting excited to get back out on the road and see some of our customers. We have a number of upcoming food shows across the Country and are gearing up for our “Fall 2021 Tour”. We have been working on some new recipes that we feel are in-line with the current market. Just like many other items, crab has been scarce during the Covid lockdowns with very limited supply and all time highs on costs. We have focused on using some of our smaller, more affordable grades like our Claw, Special and Backfin Lump. The idea of crab bringing some luxury to your table while still being affordable from a food cost standpoint. I developed 2 simple, yet elegant recipes using the same 9 ingredients (including our crab meat) and using inexpensive and very accessible ingredients like rice or frozen corn. Crab has a place on your menu just as much as it does on your family dinner table, from special occasions to everyday meals, we have options and ideas.

We are finally coming out of Winter in New England and really looking forward to some warm weather. Living on the shore, this means seafood, fishing, crabbing, surfing and lots and lots of sand in my car. Well my littlest one, recently turned 6, is so excited for her Pop to get his boat in the water and get their 7 crab traps out. Since before she could walk the two of them have been catching crab together. Starting on the dock with a chicken bone tied to a string, then getting a license and proper crab trap and adding a couple more traps every year. She gets so excited as the traps come up out of the water, always hoping for an overflowing catch, but usually only getting a few. The two of them steam the the crabs and she will watch as Pop and Grammy pick the meat (a very labor intensive endeavor). It is a way of life for many here, just as it is all over the world. The process is pretty much the same for my daughter and Father in Law as it is for our crab we sell. Wild caught, in traps, steam cooked live, chilled and hand picked. We love our crab.

Whether you are a restaurant chef looking to easily add crab to your menu or you are a home chef and are a planning a crab dinner party and want a variety of items with very little additional work or ingredients, we have some great recipe ideas for you. A classic hot crab dip is perfect on its own, just served with some crackers, crostini or crudite, but there are lots more way to serve it. Use it as a stuffing for vegetables or even as a sauce on a piece of grilled fish. The recipe for a crab cake mix, using our very affordable frozen crab, also makes an excellent stuffing for everything from artichokes to salmon. The options are only limited to your creativity.

As 2020 has finally come to an end and we are all hopeful for a much less eventful 2021, it is my job to start looking for new ways to use our crab meat. As dining out was limited we saw more and more home chefs emerging all over the internet. It is amazing all the cooking groups from sourdough bread to charcuterie boards and everything in between. There seems to be a group for everyone, well if you love crab, this is the place to be. 2020 did allow us the time to finally add an online store where our customers can order our delicious crab delivered right to their house. For me it meant my littlest one, five year old Grace, was finally ready and even sometimes excited to cook with Dad. Well, our New Year’s Eve charcuterie/seafood display was a perfect time for Grace to show off her crab cake skills. From picking the crackers to use as the binder (she decided on little club crackers over her standard Ritz crackers and perfectly crushed them in a ziplock bag. She went with jumbo lump crab, not the easiest to work with without breaking up the whole pieces. My favorite recipe, 1 egg, 2 TBS mayonnaise, 1 TBS Dijon, 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce (and me trying to get her to properly pronounce Worcestershire). Gently mixed with a rubber spatula and used a 4oz portion scoop to form them on a buttered, parchment lined baking sheet and a drizzle of melted butter over the top just before cooking. A cooking video featuring grace is coming soon. Check back often.