Ingredients
- 2 lb Cromer Crab
- 2 Eggs
- 2 slices White bread
- 1.5lbs Tagliatelle
- 1 lb Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 Lemons
- Bunch Flat leaf parsley
- Paprika
- Cayenne pepper
- White wine vinegar
- 1 cup Extra virgin olive oil
- Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup Vegetable oil
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Brandy
- White wine
- 2 Banana shallots
Method
Cooking the crab:
Freeze Crabs for one hour – this shuts them down painlessly
After an hour, add the crabs to a large pan of boiling water and add plenty of salt
Leave to boil for 15 minutes
Whilst the crabs are boiling, prepare the other ingredients.
Mise en place:
Start by finely slicing the garlic and banana shallots.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half
Grate the zest of a lemon
Pick two handfuls of Parsley leaves – chop one handful Coarsely – this will be used for the pasta – and the other, finely – this will be used for the brown crab Mayo.
After 15 minutes, remove the crabs from the boiling water and place into iced water. This will stop the cooking process and prevent the meat turning to mush. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Next, prepare the mayonnaise.
Mayonnaise:
Separate two eggs and add the yolks to a mixing bowl. Add a little drop of white wine vinegar. Squeeze the lemon into the bowl, add salt and whisk in some extra virgin olive oil, add long the oil in slowly.
Add a little Vegetable oil and continue to whisk until the mixture begins to forms and you can see small peaks. Add some black pepper, a teaspoon of paprika, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and combine. Lastly, add half a teaspoon of Brandy and 6 drops of Worcestershire sauce. Mix well then place the bowl into the fridge.
Next, the base sauté –
Add a large amount of extra virgin olive oil to a frying pan. Add the shallots and garlic. – If the garlic begins to colour, remove the pan from the heat.
Add a pinch of lemon zest and the cherry tomatoes and allow to simmer.
Make a cartouche and place over the pan and leave to cook down.
Remove the crabs from the ice water and place your hand over each crab to check there is no residual heat.
Firstly, remove the claws. Take the bodies and bang on each side with a knife to crack the shell. Pull the meat away.
Using a spoon, remove the knuckles, exposing more of the meat in the middle.
Next, break open the claws and remove the meat.
Brown crab meat on toast:
Add the brown crab meat to a hot pan and cook down until all of the liquid has evaporated. When the meat becomes thick and sticky, pass it through a sieve.
Cut some bread into three large pieces and fry in hot olive oil and allow to brown.
Once the meat has passed through the sieve, keep the bowl inside another bowl of ice water. This chills down the brown meat.
Add some of the white crab meat to the some of the mayonnaise, add some of the finely chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice and combine with a drop of brandy.
Spoon the brown crab meat onto the toasted bread and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and a pinch of paprika.
Serve.
Crab Tagliatelle:
Once the tomatoes have cooked down, add lots of black pepper, some salt, a squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of white wine. Stir well and squash down the tomatoes with the back of a spatula. Make sure you taste all the way through to get the seasoning right.
Add the pasta to a pan of boiling water.
Add some crab meat to the pan with the tomatoes. Then add the pasta, along with a splash of the starchy water and the coarsely chopped parsley, to the pan. Combine well. Add another sprinkle of parsley and serve.