April seasonal recipes: How to make the best of crab this month

April marks the start of seafood season. Most notably, crab – with delicious meat best for summery dishes, we’re welcoming it with open arms

Add colour to white crab with avocados and kiwi in this salad dish

A lot of seafood is coming into season this month. And we’re welcoming it with open arms as it means the beginning of lighter meat and a final goodbye to the darker meats left over from game season. Now it’s all about halibut, salmon, shrimp, whitebait, lobster and crab – which feature on our front cover.

When fresh, they’re delicate, meaty and tasty and lend themselves best to salads and summery food, as we show below with some delicious recipes. Although it does make for a rather beige coloured meal, this is easily avoided by partnering it with other seasonal produce.

Right about now, the first peas are coming through, and there’s little better than fresh peas, popped from their pods straight from your garden.

For more colour and bite, add radishes to side salads and add asparagus spears too. To bulk up a side salad into a main, add in rocket, watercress, spring onions and sprouting broccoli, which are all ready about now too.

Crab, kiwi and avocado salad

Prep: 10 minutes

Serves 2

2 tbsp avocado oil
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ x 25g pack basil, leaves only, roughly chopped
1 golden kiwi
100g white crab meat
1 ripe large avocado, cubed
½ echalion shallot, thinly sliced
4 radishes, thinly sliced

To make the dressing, mix the avocado oil with the lemon juice and basil then season. Peel the kiwi, then quarter and slice. Place into a large bowl with the remaining ingredients.

Toss gently with the dressing. Delicious served on top of toasted sourdough with lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Recipes and image courtesy of Waitrose

Spiced crab and coconut rice

Try replacing the crab in the rice dish with cooked prawns or squid.

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Serves 4

1 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 large onion, thinly sliced
½ tsp turmeric
275g long grain rice
200ml half-fat coconut milk
½ tsp salt
170g can white crab meat in brine, drained
3 tbsp chopped coriander

Heat the oil in a medium pan with a tight-fitting lid, add the cumin and coriander seeds and toast for 1 minute over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry, stirring, for a further 5 minutes. Add the turmeric and rice and stir for 1 minute.

Pour in the coconut milk, then enough water to come 2.5cm above the surface of the rice. Stir in the salt and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and leave, covered, to steam for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, fold in the crab and cover for a further minute, to heat through. Scatter over the coriander and serve.

Recipes and image courtesy of Waitrose

Crab, cheddar and chive omelette by Nathan Outlaw

4 tbsp of rapeseed oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
200g of waxy potato, peeled and finely sliced or grated
6 large eggs
200g of white crab meat
50g of brown crab meat, optional
100g of cheddar, grated
3 tbsp of chives, chopped
Salt to season
Black pepper to season
Mixed salad leaves, to plate

To begin the omelette, heat 2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil in a small, high-sided pan. Once hot, add the chopped onion and sliced potatoes. Stir the onions and potatoes gently for 5 minutes until they begin to soften. While they are cooking, break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk them lightly.

Once the onions and potatoes are softened, transfer them into a large bowl and leave to cool slightly. Add the eggs, crab meat, grated cheddar and chives, then season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste​. Put the frying pan back on the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil. When the pan is hot, add the mixture to the pan and and turn the heat down to its lowest setting immediately.

Periodically draw the edge of the omelette in gently with a spatula, as this will give it a nice, rounded edge. When there is virtually no liquid egg left on the surface of the omelette, turn it over to cook on the other side for 2 minutes more. Turn the heat off and leave the omelette for a further 5 minutes to settle. It should be cooked through but still moist in the centre. Serve hot or cold, cut into wedges, with a mixed leaf salad.

Crab cakes by Martin Wishart

450g of white crab meat
100g of breadcrumbs, fine
2 large eggs
6 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed
Fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
​1 lime, juiced
Plain flour
Salt, to taste
White pepper, freshly ground
4 tbsp of vegetable oil

To serve

1 dash of olive oil
1 dash of lime juice
Salad leaves

For the crab cakes, carefully pick through the crab meat for any pieces of cartilage or shell. Combine in a bowl with the eggs, breadcrumbs, spring onions, fish and soy sauces, ginger, garlic and lime juice. Season to taste with a little salt and pepper. Divide the mix into 50g portions and shape into even-sized round cakes and lightly coat with flour.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. When the pan has come to temperature, carefully arrange the crab cakes in the pan, making sure they don’t touch each other. Allow the cakes to cook for 3-4 minutes on each side so they are hot in the centre and golden-brown on the outside. Use a palette knife to transfer the crab cakes from the pan on to kitchen paper to drain off excess oil.

Serve the crab cakes on a warm plate with a garnish of a few salad leaves dressed with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lime juice.

Crab salad by Theo Randall

1kg of cooked crab
2 bulbs of fennel, chopped
1 radicchio
2 handfuls of dandelion leaves
2 handfuls of rocket
25g of bottarga, grated
1 lemon, juiced
4 tbsp of olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 dash of olive oil

Take off the crab claws and legs, turn the crab onto its back and push the centre body upwards. This should dislodge itself from the main shell. Pick out all the brown feathery pieces and scoop the brown meat out, (this will look lumpy and unappetizing but tastes delicious) and keep to one side.

With a rolling pin and a large chopping board, bash the crab claws until they break, scoop out all the crab meat into a bowl. Be careful about the shell but don’t worry too much as you can pick through the crab later. With the legs, cut the ends off with a sharp knife and scrape out the meat with a long fork. Finally take the centre body, place it on the chopping board and split it into two, this should make getting into all the cavities easier – remove as much meat as you can.

Place all the crab meat on a flat tray and use your fingertips to go through the meat and make sure there is no shell. Season the white crab meat with salt and pepper, squeeze of lemon and a dash of olive oil. With the brown meat – place all of it including the lumpy bits into a bowl and bash it with a whisk until every part of it is smooth. Add a squeeze of lemon, oil, salt and pepper.

Mix the chopped fennel, radicchio, pissenlit and rocket together with the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and place on a plate. Spoon over 1 tablespoon of brown meat on each portion of salad then carefully put white crab meat on top and finish by grating bottarga all over.

Recipes courtesy of Great British Chefs. Visit their site for more crab recipes