Article: Port Isaac crab, toast and mayo
Port Isaac crab, toast and mayo
Port Isaac crab is some of the finest shellfish in the country, and the season runs from spring to autumn. This is the way to treat it: warm garlic toast, sweet white meat barely dressed, lemon and basil doing the quiet work. Ten minutes in the oven is the only cooking.
Our counter version of the Port Isaac crab, toast and mayo that chef Emily Scott serves on the north Cornwall coast, from her book Sea and Shore. Her original is at The Homepage.
Ingredients
- 250g fresh white crab meat
- 4 slices sourdough bread
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 to 3 tbsp good olive oil
- Grated zest of 1 lemon, plus the halves for squeezing
- 2 tbsp good mayonnaise
- A handful of basil leaves, torn (micro basil if you can find it)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Rocket to serve
Method
- Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
- Mix the crushed garlic into the olive oil and brush it over both sides of the sourdough.
- Toast the bread on a baking sheet in the oven until lightly golden and crisp at the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Run your fingers through the crab and remove any flecks of shell, keeping the meat in fat flakes.
- Fold the crab with the lemon zest and mayonnaise, then stir through the basil. Season and taste. The mayonnaise should carry the crab, never smother it.
- Pile the crab generously onto the warm toasts, scatter with rocket, squeeze over lemon and serve straight away.
Serving note: serve on the tray, family style, with the lemon halves and a peppery pile of rocket. The toast should still be warm when the crab lands on it.
Shop this recipe
Picked at the counter: white crab meat, with brown crab meat if you like a richer layer under the white. More on the species in our brown crab guide.
Photo: cyclonebill from Copenhagen, Denmark, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
