Shore crab soup recipe

Eat it outside on a windy, early summer’s day; serve with plenty of bread to soak up any juice left over in the bowl. Shore crabs are found near the beach on the south coast – ask a fishmonger who buys from crabbing boats to find them for you (mstevensandson.co.uk is a good online fishmonger who may be able to help). Serves 4-6 Ingredients 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil 8 raw shore crabs, placed in a bag and crushed the shells of the lobsters used to make the glaze 1 onion, roughly chopped 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped 1 stick of celery, sliced 1 sprig of summer savory (optional) 12 peppercorns 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed 2 tbsp tomato purée 100g uncooked pudding rice a pinch of saffron (8 strands) 2.5 litres fish stock or water To make the broth, heat the three tablespoons of rapeseed oil and add the crabs, shells, vegetables, herbs, peppercorns and garlic. Cook, stirring until all are soft and take on a little colour. Add the tomato purée and cook, stirring for a minute, then add the rice and saffron. Add about 2.5 litres of fish stock or water and simmer for about an hour. Season to taste with salt, then serve, putting the pan in the centre of the table to keep the broth warm. You can eat all the meat in a shore crab, using a toothpick to extract it from the small claws, or sucking it from the shell. Hamish Anderson’s wine choice 2007 Marsanne Tahbilk, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria, Australia £9.99, cambridgewine.com. You could be lured into thinking that something so modestly priced may be getting past its best four years down the line. Don’t. Made from vines planted in the 1920s, this is one of the wine world’s bargains. A couple of years have added weight to floral, honey notes while a bright, zesty acidity is ideal to lift crabmeat. Buy a case and you can happily cellar it for five years.