Given the choice, I always choose crab over lobster, and I think most professional cooks would do the same. Fresh crab offers the best of both worlds – great white meat and exceptional brown meat – and it’s also more versatile, as evidenced by today’s risotto. As for the figgy pudding, I get that this fruit is a Marmite ingredient – if I’m honest, there was a time when I didn’t “get” figs, either – but a tender, ripe fig is wonderfully heavy with its own honeyed syrup and both fleshy and grainy from its seeds. In fact, now I’m a bit of a fig zealot.
Risotto of crab, sweetcorn and chilli (pictured top)
Crab and sweetcorn are now bang in season, and this relatively straightforward dish combines them with spicy chilli and soothing rice. Roll up your sleeves and get ready for a good stir to release the natural starches in the rice and develop that oozy, comforting consistency we all love. With risottos, you’ll be told that the golden rule is to use the very best stock you can, but there’s no shame in using one of those fish stock pots: so long as your risotto features a few other punchy ingredients, you’ll still be on to a winner, plus you’re already getting bags of flavour from the brown crab meat.
Prep 20 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4
150g butter
2 onions, peeled and very finely diced
Sea salt and black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
320g carnaroli rice
125ml dry white wine
750ml warm fish or shellfish stock
200g brown crab meat, minced or blended
1 small sweetcorn, peeled and the kernels shucked (about 100g; or use frozen and defrosted)
200g white crab meat
1-2 fresh red chillies, to taste, finely sliced (remove and discard the pith and seeds first, if you prefer less heat)
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
Juice of 1 small lime
Melt half the butter in a heavy-based pot set over a medium heat, then gently sweat the onion with a generous pinch of sea salt for three to four minutes, until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a further minute or so.
Add the rice to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, for two to three minutes, until coated and glistening, then pour in the wine to deglaze the pan – it should evaporate almost instantly. Add a ladle of the hot stock and cook, stirring constantly and at least every minute, over a medium-high heat, until the liquid is absorbed. Repeat, adding a ladle of stock at a time and stirring until it’s absorbed, for 10-12 minutes. You don’t want the pan to dry out, but nor do you want to drown the rice.
Once the rice has absorbed most of the stock, stir in the brown crab meat and the sweetcorn, turn down the heat to low and continue cooking, still stirring regularly, for a couple of minutes more, until the rice is giving and just tender.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the white crab meat, chopped chillies and spring onions. Squeeze in the lime juice, season to taste, stir one last time, then ladle into shallow bowls and serve.
Fig tarte tatin
Don’t be put off by the thought of making puff pastry – only professional cooks have time for that kind of thing – so just use ready-rolled from the chiller cabinet instead, like just about everyone else does. This is one special pud, as great for a dinner party as it is for a comforting midweek treat. I’d serve it with double cream, though homemade custard would be equally yummy. For individual tartlets, use a small egg frying pan (or a tartlet mould). Cut a small circle of greaseproof paper to fit in the bottom to stop the tart sticking, which is very likely with all that caramel.
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 1
2 figs
10g butter, softened
20g demerara sugar
1 circle puff pastry, cut to about 12cm in diameter, to fit neatly over the top of a small egg frying pan or tartlet mould
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6, and put a heavy-based baking tray on the middle shelf.
Cut both figs in half, then cut each half in half again, so you have eight wedges in total. Generously butter the inside of the egg pan or tartlet mould, using all the butter – yes, it may seem a lot, but nobody said this dish is healthy. Coat the pan with all the sugar, then arrange the fig wedges around the pan in a petal pattern. Lay the puff pastry circle over the top of the figs, then tightly tuck it in all around the edge.
Lift the pan or mould on to the hot tray in the oven, then bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is browned and fully cooked through and the caramel is bubbling up around the edges. Remove, leave to cool for five minutes, then carefully invert the tart on to a serving plate, taking great care not to burn yourself on the molten caramel. Serve while it’s still warm.
