Spider crab with loganberries, lemon zest & fennel top

Spring

When a raspberry falls in love with a blackberry, sooner or later you get a loganberry. They are floral and scented; ruby red, juicy and sharp to a point. It’s the acidity that I like, which goes so well with the sweet, tender meat of the spider crab – very much as tomatoes do, only fruitier. This fresh combination gets a little bump from lemon zest, and cool, green notes from aniseedy fennel tops. If you can’t find spider crab, you could make the dish with the meat from brown crab or velvet swimming crabs.

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g (7oz) freshly picked spider crab white meat, and brown (optional)
1 small punnet of ripe loganberries or raspberries (about 100g/3½oz)
a few roughly torn fennel tops
a few fennel flowers, if available
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
juice of ½ small lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Pick over the crab meat to make sure there are no traces of shell. On a large serving platter, or over two individual plates, scatter over the fresh white crab meat and dot over the brown meat, if using.

Roughly chop the loganberries or raspberries in half, and place them in and around the crab meat. Scatter over the fennel tops and the flowers (if using), drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice, and season with salt and black pepper.

Bring to the table with freshly toasted sourdough to serve.

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