Crab and Spider Crab, with homemade Mayonnaise and Soda Bread

Whatever else I cook over our New Year's Break,  I  try and ensure we that  have some wonderfully fresh seafood.

We found some lively crab and spider crab just before New Year's Day, so we brought three home to boil.

I find that fresh seafood responds best to simple treatment, so while the crabs were boiling I baked a loaf of Soda Bread, and whisked up some mayonnaise in my Kenwood Chef.

The whole meal took less then an hour to prepare ( that includes picking the crabs for their meat).  The three of us sat down for lunch, with sunlight (amazingly and unusually this winter) flooding through the window.

A glass of champagne and the meal was complete.

This is a meal which may be repeated throughout the year if you are near the  coast either here in France, or in the UK.  Most coastal towns have fresh seafood available, so if you get the chance do try to cook your own seafood feast at some stage this year. You will be rewarded with the very best meal imaginable!

If you find some lobster, here's a link to my lobster recipe.  Nothing could be simpler, though I am a bit of a coward, and usually get my husband or one of my sons to drop the beast in the water.  (I really don't fancy being pinched by the claws!)

If you haven't yet made 'Cooking Seafood' one of your New Year's Resolutions, there are still 362 days left to change your mind.

The spider crab's shell has an elemental look 

I use Breton seasalt
(one of these packets just fills my purpose made jar!)

About three handfuls in a large pot of boiling water

We don't like our Seafood to squabble,
so it's separate buckets

The colours of cooked seafood are amazing
and I wish there was a smell attachment for blogs
because fresh seafood smells amazing too

Draining cooking liquid (in the sink)

Removing brown and white meat from the shells

In a restaurant, you are often left to get on with this part
yourselves, but at home I prefer to do it, and then put the
meat in the cleaned out shells

Some gorgeous homemade mayonnaise is perfect with fresh
crab and spider crab

And a loaf of Soda Bread ,here in Brittany I use
Lait Ribot  (French buttermilk) and a 1/4 of my flour is
buckwheat, which is grown in Brittany

My husband, daughter and I ate an awful lot of crab
but there was enough meat left for crab cakes the next day
So Seafood can be thrifty too!