Cooking Without A Recipe

What I love about cooking is experimenting with new flavors and combinations of ingredients.  Most of the time I cook without a recipe and even when I do use a recipe, I don't follow it word for word.  I realize this is difficult for some people and there is certainly nothing wrong with using recipes (I have about 50 cookbooks which I read on a regular basis), and I am posting lots of recipes on this site.  My advice whether you are following a recipe or creating a new one is don't be afraid to experiment and taste what you are cooking as you go along.  Taste spices alone or in combination, with traditional pairings (i.e. sage with Chicken, basil with tomatoes) but mix it up and see what happens.  you might be surprised with the results!

Soft Shell Crabs with Cilantro and LimeI was on the Eastern Shore and happily for me it is soft shell crab season.  I love soft shells but I don't cook them very often which is a shame because they are actually quite easy to prepare.  I bought a dozen live crabs (they were $1 a piece!!!) and headed home.  I didn't feel like going to the grocery store so I decided to experiment with the ingredients I had in my kitchen.  Citrus of course pairs well with seafood.  I only had one lemon but three limes so I decided to mix my citruses.  I have a great crop of cilantro growing in my herb garden so I thought this would be an interesting pairing of flavors with the lime and the crab.