Prep time
15 mins
Cooking Time
60 mins
Serves
4
Ingredients
For the stew:
- 500g white and brown crab meat
- 4 cooked crab claws
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tbsp olive oil or shellfish oil [see below]
- 1 litre of fish stock with a pinch of saffron for extra flavour
- 100ml white wine
- 150g pearl barley
- 2 bulbs of garlic, whole
- 1 leek, roughly chopped
- 4 sticks of celery, sliced
- 4 shallots, finely diced
- 12-15 vine tomatoes
- 2 red peppers
- 1 red chilli, diced
- ½ tsp Smoked sea salt
- Large handful of apple woodchips, soaked in sea water
For the Shellfish oil:
- 150ml olive oil
- Crab shell, broken into shards with a rolling pin or robust food processor
- 1 tsp saffron
Method
- Place your chopped leeks, tomatoes, peppers and celery onto the BBQ to grill. Chargrill for 15-20 mins until softened, blackened and blistered.
- Remove all veg from the grill and roughly chop again. Add to a large pan with shellfish oil, paprika and black pepper.
- Mix the brown meat into the base of the stew. Cook with white wine, fish stock and pearl barley on a medium simmer for 35-40 mins.
- Add apple woodchips to your kettle BBQ to generate smoke. Hot smoke the white crab meat in its shell over the smokey coals for 4-5 mins whilst the crab stew is simmering. Warm the cooked crab claws in the stew at the same time.
- Serve this smoky crab stew with Bannock bread – a local speciality, or soda bread. Garnish with chopped parsley and seaweed. Season to taste with smoked sea salt
For the shellfish oil
In a saucepan simmer the broken crab shell with oil and a generous pinch of saffron for 10-15 mins. Then remove from the heat and allow to infuse with flavour whilst it cools. Strain and use for an intense shellfish flavour when cooking or to finish a dish with a vibrant orange oil.