Dressed crab is very nice on its own, the white and brown meats separated and placed into the shell providing a really tasty little bite.
It can be de-constructed and made into a really fine starter: Crab Linguine.
But linguine is pasta, isn't it? Yes, it is. In Italian, it means "little tongues" ... we can make it out of anything; courgette is perfect, sliced into little tongues with a julienne slicer.
Let's get to it ...
Scrape the shell out, collecting the white meat and scraping the brown meat into a dish.
Squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice into the brown meat, a little black pepper and just a touch of cream (which is optional), stir together. This will be our sauce for the side.
Slice some juliennes of courgette and set aside with the white meat. In preparedness, minced a chilli and some fresh coriander.
Asparagus tips, thin cucumber slices and orange segments complete the salad, which can be made up on the plate in advance, cucumber down, brown meat sauce over, asparagus and orange on top, herbs to crown. I also sprinkled some Icelandic ash salt over.
Now to the linguine ...
In a skillet, soften some of your favourite fat - I used goose fat.
Toss in the courgette linguine, which will soften quickly, so be ready to toss in the crab meat, chilli and coriander. One combined, spoon out back into the shell, serving alongside the asparagus and orange side.
Tip: a little blob of the brown meat under the shell will stop it skating around on the plate.
