Charlie's cayenne spiced crab and avocado with charcoal biscuits
At a recent party, hosted by Country Life, a certain cayenne spiced crab canape went down rather well. So well in fact, that we begged the fantastic caterer-Charlie at Quail London (0208 560 1103/07867 847 186)-to adapt his recipe into a more substatial starter. If you are entertaining at the weekend, with time to spare, then take a trip down to your local fishmonger in search of super fresh crab meat.
Serves 4
Ingredients 125g pack Miller’s Damsel Charcoal Biscuits 200g White Crab Meat (such as Seafood & Eat It) 1 ripe avocado 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tbsp finely chopped dill 1 tbsp good quality mayonnaise (such as Delouis Fils Mayonnaise) salt and pepper to taste
You will need: one 7cm cooking ring (or an empty 400g tin with both ends taken off !)
Method Pit and peel the avocado and cut it into 1cm chunks. In a small bowl toss the avocado chunks gently with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and season with salt to taste. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining lemon juice, cayenne pepper, finely chopped dill and the mayonnaise. Add crabmeat and combine gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Stand the chefs ring on a serving plate. Scoop a quarter of the diced avocado into the ring and press down. Place 1/4 of the crabmeat on top and press down again. Gently pull the ring off the avocado and crab mixture, wash and repeat with the remaining 3 servings.
Serve with the charcoal biscuits.
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ChilstoneChilstone have been makers of fine cast stone garden ornaments and architectural stone since 1953.
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Guild AndersonGuild Anderson’s work in country houses and historic buildings centres around the design and reimagining of domestic working spaces, chiefly kitchens, sculleries, boot rooms and pantries.
