FLOWER POT KITCHEN: LONDON GRANNIES DRESSED CAYENNE BUTTER SEASONED COLD CRAB AND MY HOT THERMIDOR CHEESEY OOZYING DRESSED CRAB

27 Dec 2012

LONDON GRANNIES DRESSED CAYENNE BUTTER SEASONED COLD CRAB AND MY HOT THERMIDOR CHEESEY OOZYING DRESSED CRAB

I always ask my local fishmonger to steam my crab 10 minutes before I arrive, they are very good at Southern Head Fishery's, I love the fact that they are a beach hut on the sea front and supply Billingsgate fish market, I will never forget when I found that out as I used to get up at 3am and drive to the Isle of Dogs for Billingsgate fish market, (never on a Monday tho! did that once and they are closed!!!), to choose the fish for our restaurant, and I saw them there delivering there! One of my favourite memories is that I really loved the atmosphere, banter, haggling and fresh range of produce and being shouted at by the barrow boys who run the delivery trolleys up and down, I was shouted at because I was always getting in the way, as I was so engrossed in all the produce!

UN COOKED AT THIS STAGE

Dressed crab ready to go in the oven and under the grill with cayenne pepper, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper seasoning and finished off with a cheese mornay sauce and Parmesan panko breadcrumbs.

Dressed crab to be eaten cold with seasoned crab meat with a extra touch of melted butter, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt and pepper then presented with boiled egg white, yolk and chives to finish off.

Ingredients

2 whole crabs, steam cooked

80g butter melted

2 pinches cayenne pepper

1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 juice of a lemon

Salt and white pepper

200g panko breadcrumbs

100g Parmesan cheese

2 boiled eggs

1 bunch chives finely diced

FOR THE MORNAY SAUCE

200ml dry white wine

500ml fish stock

25g butter

25g flour

1 pinch grated nutmeg

100g guyere cheese

100g mature cheddar

50g Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

For the hot to eat crab with the thermidor mornay sauce, first make the mornay sauce, add the fish stock to a sauce pan and simmer to reduce by half, add the wine and reduce again by a third. Place to one side, melt the butter gently in a pan and stir in the flour to make a roux, then slowly add the reserved fish stock and wine liquid to create the thermidor mornay sauce, bring to a gentle simmer and add the cheese, stir in well and season to taste.

Next to dis-assemble the crab and seperate the white and brown crab meat, I also like to clean the carapace (shell) and use this for presentation of the finished dish.

You can buy a cleaned crab dressed ready to use for this, every now and then I like to work with a whole crab for the experience and practise, but often I buy the cleaned dressed crabs, this removes the stress and time giving you the space to create a gorgeous sumptuous dish, oh so many dishes!

FOR THE THERMIDOR MORNAY CRAB TO SERVE HOT

Take the white meat and season with salt and pepper, drizzle over some of the melted butter, a drizzle of lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Now add some of the morany sauce and gently mix, trying not to break up the meat to much. Take the panko breadcrumbs and mix with a little of the melted butter, then toss with the Parmesan cheese.

Season the brown crab meat with salt and pepper and a drizzle of butter.

Place the brown meat in either side of the crab shell and place the white crab meat mix in the centre and top with the Parmesan panko breadcrumbs.

To heat and serve place the crab shell in the oven 180 degrees for approx 15 minutes until hot in the centre (75degrees) and then pop under the grill for a couple of minutes to brown of the Parmesan breadcrumbs, yummy...

FOR THE COLD DRESSED CRAB

Separate the white meat and brown meat into bowls, with the white meat season with a drizzle of melted butter, salt, pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper and fresh grated nutmeg.

For the brown meat season with butter and a pinch of salt and pepper.

For the final dressing bring to the boil a pan of water, season with salt, place the fresh room temperature eggs in to the water and boil for exactly 6 minutes, drain and leave to cool on the side, this will give you a beautiful boiled egg that is just set and has a glorious orange and yellow yolk.

Peel the eggs and separate the yolk from the whites, dice the whites and yolks separately and then finely dice the chives. Fill the edges of the crab shell with the seasoned brown meat and then fill the centre with the seasoned white crab meat.

For the final dressing place the chopped egg white either side of the white crab meat, then place the chopped egg yolk either side of the white egg and finish of with the fine chopped chives either side of the egg yolk. keep refrigerated until serving and enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.