Maryland Crab Soup

I met my husband while I was attending culinary school in Baltimore, Maryland. He worked for a lumber yard. It was love at first sight and he asked me to marry him on our first date (truly). 
Baltimore is a cool city. I like the fact that it is still rough around the edges, down to earth and not too glamorous; sort of like my husband.


The food I associate most with maryland is crabs. I love crab-- catching them, cooking them, picking them and eating them: Crab cakes, crab and saffron pasta, crabmeat salad, and my favourite, crab soup. Tomato based with lots of veggies in it and plenty of old Bay Seasoning. Never mind that it's healthy, eat this because it is tasty.

4 cups (32 fluid ounces) fish or crab stock or bottles of clam juice
4 cups (32 fluid ounces) beef stock
1 X 690 gram jar tomato passata (2 and 1/2 cups tomato puree in the US)
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped fine
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup fresh or frozen green bean pieces (not whole) or lima beans
1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds crab meat including any juice (you can substitute mild white fish if you like)
2 X 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1) Place the first 6 ingredients into a large pot and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 20 minutes, then add in the rest of the veggies and crab (or fish). Bring back to the simmer and cook until the veggies are cooked, as well as the fish, (if you are using rather than crab and starting from raw)-- flake the fish apart. Season with Old Bay, starting with 1/2 tablespoon then adding more if you like.

Serve hot! Tastes great the next day or the day after that.