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.
No comments:
Post a Comment