Simple Spider Crab Lunch

One of the best things about having a house on the Breton coast is the availability of wonderful fresh Seafood.

I love cooking seafood,  as well as the Spider Crab I cooked the other day, I   actually cooked, for the first time,   Abalone yesterday!  Tonight I am making a Clam (or should that be cockle) Mariniere, followed by a chowder tomorrow (My husband came back from his clam dig this morning with 7 kilos of clams!)

As there are just the three of us for Easter Sunday Lunch  we will fore go  the traditional Roasted Lamb and instead we will be eating  Oysters, then a  Lobster and  a Crab.

We have lots of friends here and although my French is not good, I do like to have them round for dinner.  Last night I made a Salmon Pate with Salmon Caviar and for our main course we ate Lieu (Pollock) with a Lime and Harissa Marinade, accompanied by rice and a spicy tomato sauce.

As a change from all the fish we've been eating,  for lunch today we had a fresh cauliflower with a cheese and mustard sauce.  (One of our lovely neighbours knocked on the door yesterday bringing the most beautiful vegetable straight from a local field).

I hope to post some of these delicious meals over the next few days, and if you haven't booked your summer holiday yet do consider Brittany.  The food is amazing and you can pretty much eat as much local food as you wish (with the exception of spices, coffee and tea and of course,  olive oil) .  The seafood, fish, vegetables and fruit are all superb.

And Finistere (where we are) is the wettest part of France, so no hose pipe ban.  You may well be glad to see some green fields and feel a drop of rain on your face,  by the time  July and  August arrive.

We ate three spider crabs
(Yes, that's one each and one of us is only five years old!)

They were quite small,
so that meant 2 claws each and plenty of white and brown meat
Do you think they came from Cornwall or Scotland
(Much of the seafood for sale in Roscoff
 comes from those two wonderful
parts of Great Britain!)

Get a good pot of water on the boil
it needs to be salty

I use this damp seasalt for seafood
which is available in all supermarkets in Finistere
and is much less expensive then Fleur de Sel
or other fancy seasalts

The crabs trying to make their escape

Spider Crab are quite spiky, so we find gardening gloves
useful when you are putting them in the pot
Bring back to the boil and as these were small I boiled them
for twelve minutes

To stop them cooking I put them in the sink and run cold water
(no water shortages here!)

They turn the most beautiful rose colour once cooked

Separate the top shell from the bottom to get to the meat

The brown meat may not look it, but it is delicious

Use a spoon to scoop it out

Try and get as much as you can

These ferny looking things are the dead men's fingers
and really are not good to eat

To get the white meat out I cut up the rest of the crab

And I use a crab pick to pick out the meat
You could leave it for people to do themselves
but I like to make the effort as I think it looks nicer
and is more enjoyable for those I am cooking for

We always have a loaf of homemade Soda Bread
You can find the recipe here

I wash out the empty shells and use them as meat dishes
I always serve the white and brown in different dishes
as some people do not like the brown meat

I think it is delicious

A glass of bubbly is perfect with spider crab

My five year old daughter  tucking in
Her favourite foods include Crab, Lobster and Caviar!

Seafood is ideal for children
You can eat it with your fingers and you have fabulous tools
such as crab  picks and seafood crackers for the shells, to use

The end of our meal

Even the left over shells look pretty

I will be posting some more seafood over the next few days!