Wanting to use some fish stock I had in the freezer, I planned to make a seafood soup for a simple Saturday night meal for the family. Nothing special. My partner had offered to go to the market so I added some prawns, a piece of fish and two crabs to the shopping list.
The idea was to make a basic fish soup with the stock, some aromatics, spices and tomatoes and then gently poach the seafood for a few minutes in the soup.
That was until the crabs arrived home. Not two delicate, little blue swimmers. Two glorious, big-clawed mud crabs. (The cost of which could have covered a dinner for the four of us in a restaurant.) They were magnificent beasts and needed to be honoured in their own right.
They were cleaned and broken down, then wok fried in peanut oil with a touch of sesame oil, some minced garlic, a splash of tamari and another splash of that fish stock until the shells were red and the flesh just beyond translucent. Eaten with our fingers, cracking, sucking and digging out all the sweet meat, they were fabulous.
I went ahead with the soup as well, simplified to just prawns and fish. Finished with a refreshing salad of finely sliced fennel and cucumber in lemon dressing, the meal was a feast, made even more so by the suggestions of the eight-year old to add the ambience of candles and a roll of kitchen paper to the table setting. Luxury.
Caren