TXANGURRO

Everyone in Spain talks about txangurro from the Basque country, and once you’ve eaten it, you can see why.

Traditionally txangurro uses brown and white meat, but the brown meat from the spider crab – which is mostly in the head and legs – is even sweeter than that from a normal crab. This is usually served as a starter. It takes a bit of time, but the result is magic.

May to July is a good time for spider crabs in the UK (see here). You could use large brown crabs in their place (as pictured in these pages).

FOR 6

2 spider crabs (around 600g) or 1 large regular crab

1 bay leaf

For the sauce

50ml extra virgin olive oil

3 leeks, white part only, finely chopped

3 shallots, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 whole dried Cayenne pepper

100ml brandy

100ml white wine

150g tomato sauce (see here)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To cook the crab, put it into a pan of cold salted water (the crab cooks more gently this way), add the bay leaf, and bring to the boil. Allow 20 minutes per spider crab, a little longer for a large regular crab.

Pick all the meat from the crab, cracking its legs, and keep the shell. There is very good brown meat in spider crabs: mix it all in with the white meat. Wash the shell.

To make the sauce, put the olive oil into a large pan on a low heat. Add the leeks and shallots and cook slowly until soft but not coloured – around 6–8 minutes. Add the bay leaf and pepper and continue cooking for a couple of minutes. Add the crabmeat and mix everything together, then pour in the brandy and wine and cook until the alcohol has evaporated. Finally add the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the crab mixture into the shells, and eat with a spoon, out of the shell.