Blue swimmer crab, rye bread, lime crème fraîche

By: Lennox Hastie
From: Finding Fire
Serves: 4

Of all the shellfish, for me crab would ultimately have to be the most satisfying, as it requires greater effort and a certain determination to prise the sweet goodness from its shell. Nowadays we tend to eat too quickly, with more time spent cooking than eating. With crab the reverse is true, as the speed and simplicity of the cooking enables us to spend more time savouring the experience of eating. With their clean taste and firm texture, blue swimmer crabs are delicious and require little more accompaniment than some dark rye bread, a little crème fraîche and a good bottle of wine.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
4 x 500g	blue swimmer crabs (1 crab per person), yielding approximately 100 g meat from each crab (see note)
	grapeseed oil, for spraying
400g	crème fraîche
1 tablespoon	chopped dill, plus extra to garnish
	zest and juice of 1 lime, plus extra to squeeze
	sea salt and black pepper
8 slices	Black bread
or	good-quality rye bread

Method

1. Prepare your embers and place a grill approximately 20 cm (8 in) above them.
2. Place each whole crab, carapace side down, directly on the grill and cover with a metal bowl or tray. Cook for 8 minutes, turn the crabs over, spray generously with oil, then cook for a further 3 minutes. The crab is done when the juices start to bubble between the front claw and body joint. Remove and allow to cool enough to handle.
3. One by one, place a crab in a clean dish, and turn onto its back. Carefully place your thumbs in between the flap and the carapace, then press with your thumbs to pop open the carapace. Pull away the grey gills, or ‘dead man’s fingers’, and discard. With a sharp, heavy knife, split the crab in half. Break the body into smaller sections while removing the tasty white meat. Reserve.
4. In a bowl, combine the crème fraîche with the dill and lime zest and juice. Season with sea salt and pepper.
5. Spread the crème fraîche over the bread, and top with crabmeat and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve garnished with dill fronds.