FOR all those lovers of seafood and the sweet succulent flavours of mud crab, there’s no need to go without the delicious taste while living in the UK. Fortunately the Norfolk coastal town of Cromer is home to some of the best and tastiest shellfish and fresh crab in the world.
We all tend to stay away from buying fresh crab due to the work involved in preparing the tasty sucker or the thought of been attacked by an angry crab if it is lucky enough to escape the pot. But now good fishmongers have started preparing crabs for us for easy use and a mess free kitchen.
All you need to do for this recipe is ask your fishmonger for a ‘dressed Cromer crab’ or ‘dressed Brown crab’, which are easy to find. Crab meat is fantastic, but only if handpicked – if it’s frozen, I wouldn’t bother.
If you are a purest of the crab cuisine, tackling the shell and legs will reward you with the freshest and tastiest white meat that is to die for. All you will need is a large pot of boiling salted water, ice bath for chilling the crab down and a small meat mallet to crack the claws. Place the crab in the fridge once home and then once the water is boiling on the stove, place the crab in the pot and cook for seven to eight minutes. Remove from the pot and place into the ice bath until cool. Remove and start cracking the legs off, followed by the shell and scoop out the brown meat and the white. Both brown and white crabmeat is edible.
For this week’s recipe, we will be using freshly dressed crab so all the messy work is done for you (I don’t want to turn you off from cooking it at home!).
So lets get started and have a go. Enjoy and happy cooking!
Tasty crab linguine with fresh parsley and chili
What you need (for 4 mates):
1 x dressed Cromer crab
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 small fresh chili finely chopped
2 plum tomatoes finely chopped
500g linguine pasta
¼ bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
Olive oil
½ cup of white wine
Salt and pepper
What to do:
Place a large pot of salted water on a high heat and bring to a fast rolling boil.
Take the dressed crab, separate the meat and place back in the fridge.
Keep the meat chilled at all times.
Add the pasta to the pot – you now have 13 minutes to cook the rest…
So don’t stop cooking and remember to stir every five minutes.
Take a large saucepan and add a good splash of olive oil to the pan.
Keep it on a medium heat.
Add the chili, garlic and tomato to the pan and cook slowly without burning the ingredients.
Add the wine and reduce by half.
Strain the pasta and add to the pan and mix the sauce through the pasta.
Just before serving, add the crabmeat and toss together.
Don’t overcook the crab.
Add the parsley and serve onto large plates.
Enjoy…