RECIPES

Grilled King Crab – Cafe De Paris

When we think of a BBQ burgers and sausages always spring to mind, but we often overlook the potential of seafood. Enjoy a full-on Seafood feast this summer; fish and seafood are ideal for the grill and they don’t generally require long cooking times. In fact fish cooks very quickly on a hot barbeque. The tip is to use the best quality seafood and to ensure your grill is really hot after the flames have dampened down. This helps caramelize the fish and provide those beautiful grill lines that give you that immense flavour.

Make sure the seafood is at room temperature before grilling. This will allow the fish to cook evenly and prevent it from sticking. Our chefs at Saltwater will help by giving you the optimum grilling times too. After grilling, make sure you give your fish adequate time to rest. About 3-5 minutes will do the trick. This will allow the juices to run back into your fish and keep it tender. We always recommend having lemon wedges and Maldon salt to finish available to finish and enhance the flavour.

At Saltwater Fish Company, we’ve designed a full range of grill-ready seafood that you can pick and mix on the fishmonger’s counter, including King Prawns, Griddled Salmon, Octopus and many more. 

Method

  1. Pre-heat the grill. To make the Cafe de Paris butter; soften shallots and garlic in a little butter over gentle heat. Add the wine and boil to reduce by half, add curry powder and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring all the while. Toss in the thyme and chopped bay leaf; cook 2 minutes more before removing from the heat to cool.

  2. Beat the softened butter until white and ‘creamy’. Beat in the egg yolks followed by the parsley, capers, gherkins, anchovy, tarragon, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Season and then stir in the shallot mixture. Roll in greaseproof and refridgerate until needed.

  3. Arrange the crab legs on a baking tray and dot with the Cafe de Paris butter. Place under a hot grill and cook gently for 3 to 4 minutes, basting with the butter regularly.

  4. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, a little Maldon Sea Salt and share at the table with crusty bread and chilled Chablis.

Ingredients serves 4

  •  4 large Alaskan King Crab legs. Ask the fingmonger to cut channels in preparation for a grilling
  • 240g unsalted butter
  • 2 shallots (chopped)
  • 1 garlic clove (pureed)
  • 1 small thyme sprig (leaves only)
  • ½ fresh bay leaf, chopped
  • 30g parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp capers, chopped
  • 3 gherkins, chopped
  • 2 anchovy fillets, chopped
  • 6 tarragon leaves, blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds, chilled in ice water, drained and roughly chopped
  • 30ml white wine
  • 1 tsp curry paste
  • 2 egg yolks
  • Pinch cayenne pepper
  • Juice of ½ lemon