Crab Prawn and Avocado Cocktail - Crab Fish Cakes

This week I went to the coast to visit my father and went down to cobble landing just as a cobble (a very small wooden fishing boat) was landing I bought some freshly caught crabs from the cobble owner.

My granddad was a fisherman and the way he killed crabs was to put them in a bucket of cold water and leave them for about 5 hours, this is what I normally do, however circumstances today would not permit. On returning home I had to kill them with a sharp knife penetrated just behind the eyes

I then put them in a pan of water brought them to the boil and turned the heat down and boiled them for 25 mins. Because the shell was broken I found that some of the flavour escaped and the crab did not taste as sweet, I will not use this method again.

I dressed the crabs and we had them with a simple salad of lettuce cucumber spring onions vine tomatoes and lemon mayonnaise, this meal reminds me of my childhood when this was a regular Sunday tea.

Here are a few pictures of the freshly boiled and dressed crabs and a couple of recipes for any left-over crab meat

DRESSED CRAB

Recipe:  Crab Prawn and Avocado Cocktail  Serves 2

1 Avocado chopped and tossed in the juice of ½ a lemon

Meat of ½ a fresh crab or 1 tin

10 large prawns chopped in half

¼ iceberg lettuce shredded

1” piece of cumber chopper small                                  

3 spring onions chopped

1 large vine tomato chopped                          

                                                         Seasoning

Method:

To make the cocktail, in a glass or a bowl

Put in the lettuce top with the chopped vegetables

Mix the crab prawns and avocado together with the seasoning assemble in the glass

Top with the sauce and garnish with parsley and a slice of lemon.

   Crab Fish Cakes  Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

                        2 Large potatoes boiled and mashed with a knob of butter salt and white pepper

                        The meat of 1 large crab or 2 tins

                        1 Bunch of spring onions

                        Chopped fresh herbs i.e. parsley chives coriander

                                                  1 Egg beaten in a bowl

                                                  Seasoned flour

                                                  Fresh bread crumbs

Tartar Sauce

                        Juice of ½ lemon

                        2 t/b spoons good quality mayonnaise

                        1 t/b spoon chopped capers

                        1 t/b spoon chopped gherkins

                        Pinch of sugar

                        Mix all the ingredients together and serve.

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