Crab on toast
The crab is sweet with hints of lemon and chilli, keeping it light and zesty. I love Neal’s Yard Creamery Crème Fraîche, which is velvety and smooth, giving just the right balance for this dish.
Wine notes: the sweet crab meat, with its hints of zesty red chilli and lemon, would be beautifully enhanced by a lightly oaked Chardonnay, such as the Saint-Véran Les Pierres Blanches 2021, from Cave de Prissé. Ripe and buttery, it has fresh acidity and peach and tangerine flavours that provide a perfect balance.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
With picked crab meat, I work through the meat again to make sure that there are no bits of shell left in. Once picked again, store it in the fridge until you need it.
Step 2
Add the finely chopped herbs to a bowl with the chilli. (You don’t want to have any seeds in this: just a light hum of heat.) Fold the crème fraîche into the herbs and chilli. Add the lemon zest and juice, tasting as you go – it should be zesty but not too sharp. Fold in the crab, add salt according to taste and let the mix rest in the fridge as you prepare the toast.
Step 3
You could toast the bread but, for that extra crunch, I tend to heat a frying pan until it smokes and use this time to brush the sourdough with the olive oil. Once the frying pan smokes, turn the heat down and place the bread in the pan – you want it to brown and become golden with a crispy exterior. Rub the surface of the toast with the peeled garlic clove and then top with the crab mix to serve.
