Seafood Made Simple: How to make delicious crab toast for two

Plus my hero list of crucial condiments to keep in the larder

Crab on toast. Picture: Chani Anderson

Operating a restaurant with a daily changing menu can be both challenging and thrilling. We rely on a well-stocked larder of pickles, ferments, vinegars, and other condiments to provide us with a little direction and a lot of comfort. Building up that larder during the summer months is always enjoyable. Considering which preservation process suits each fruit or vegetable is something I admittedly lose a little sleep over in the peak of summer gluts.

Drying lemongrass this year worked a treat for us, grown in West Cork by Alex Gazzaniga at Singing Frog Gardens. It’s adding a little sunshine to our plates in these early months of the year.

Equally, I depend on a healthy collection of curated condiments when I’m cooking at home. Hero ingredients, with a long shelf life, that offer maximum flavour for minimal effort.

My list of hero condiments includes:

 

• Gherkins: Piquant little weapons that add brininess and sweetness to so many dishes. Chop through salads and salsas.
• Fish sauce: A two-ingredient condiment, fish and salt. A staple seasoning in southeast Asian cuisine. Great for finishing broths and sauces, superb with fresh lime juice for dressing salads.
• Kimchi: A Korean side dish, typically made with napa cabbage and gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes). Handy for a quick fried rice dinner, excellent in a cheese toasty.
• Hot sauce: My favourite accompaniment for oysters. Fabulous with grilled fish and shellfish.
• Vinegars: For acidity, I finish much of my cooking with vinegar. My must-haves at home are apple cider, balsamic, black rice, and malt vinegars.
• Worcestershire sauce: Made from anchovies, vinegars, sugars, tamarind, and spices. This condiment is an umami bomb. An essential ingredient in a Bloody Mary, a Caesar dressing, and a shepherd’s pie in my house.

Fish tales

If you’re buying a whole crab you want to make sure it’s still alive and feels heavy for its size.

For safety make sure its claws are restricted by elastic bands.

I prefer to steam whole crab rather than boil it. More delicate cooking produces better results.

When picking the crab meat, I like to do so on a large white plate, so shell fragments are more easily spotted.

Picking whole crab irritates many people’s skin so use a pair of food-safe gloves.

This butter also works well served over whole grilled dover sole or baked fillets.

For something a little more substantial fold the crab and flavoured butter mixture through some cooked tagliatelle or linguine.

Crab toast

recipe by:Aishling Moore

Picking whole crab irritates many people’s skin so use a pair of food-safe gloves.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 75g unsalted butter

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper powder

• ¼ tsp black pepper

• 1 lemon, juice and zest

• 1 small bunch parsley, chopped

• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 thick cut slices of sourdough

• 200g packet of picked crab meat or 1kg brown crab

Method

1. To cook a whole crab, set up a steamer or bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

2. Dispatch the crab by turning it over and pulling back the flap, where you’ll find a small hole. Place a strong knife at this point and force it through until you hit the other side of the shell.

3. Steam the crab for 10-12 minutes, and then plunge it into ice water for 30 seconds to stop the cooking. Remove it right after and allow to finish cooling.

4. Once cooled, break off the claws and legs. Break off the tail flap and press firmly upwards on the body section to remove. Cut the body section in half and use a crab pick to remove the white meat in the crevices.

5. Discard the gills (known as dead man’s fingers). Scoop out the brown meat and set aside. Using the back of a large knife, crack the claws to pick the meat, being careful to remove any shell fragments.

6. For the crab topping, heat the butter in a medium sized pan on low heat.

7. Add the minced garlic, cayenne and black pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes to soften the harshness of the garlic.

8. Then add your crab to the pan. If using the whole crab add the brown crab meat you’ve picked first and warm it gently for a minute, before adding the white meat to the pan to warm through.

9. Add the Worcestershire sauce and finish with the chopped parsley, lemon juice and zest.

10. Season with sea salt and serve on top of slices of toasted sourdough bread.