Sea bass with crab mayonnaise, roasted fennel and orange

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Bring a large pan of water to the boil (big enough to submerge the crab). Season the water liberally with sea salt to make it as salty as seawater. When the water comes to a rolling boil, lower the crab into it and cook for 15 minutes.

Carefully lift the crab out of the water, place on a board and leave until cool enough to handle. Remove all the legs and claws from the cooked crab, by twisting them away from the body. Now, holding the crab in both hands, use your thumbs to push the body up and out of the hard top shell. Remove the dead man’s fingers, stomach sac and hard membranes from the body shell. Using a spoon, remove the brown crab from the top shell and put it in a bowl. Now cut the body in half with a sharp knife to reveal all the little channels of white crab meat. Use a crab pick or the back of a spoon to pick out all the crab meat from these crevices and put it into a bowl. Then, with a heavy knife, break the claw with one hard tap if possible and pick out the crab meat, removing the cartilage in the middle of each claw. Do the same to extract the meat from the legs. When you have taken out all the crab meat, go through it carefully with your fingers a couple of times for any stray fragments of shell. Save the shell for the stock.

Blend the brown crab meat in a food processor until smooth and save for the crab mayonnaise. Pick through the white meat removing any shell and cartilage; keep cool.

For the mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and slowly add the oil drop by drop to begin with, then in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Mix half of this into the white crab meat with 2tbsp brown meat, the chopped tarragon and salt and pepper to taste. Keep cool.

For the sauce, whisk the cream into the rest of the mayonnaise and thin down with the crab stock. Keep cool until serving.

Heat your oven to 200°C/ 400°F/Gas 6. Cut each fennel half into 6 or 8 wedges. Heat a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of oil. When hot, add the fennel wedges and cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Season with salt and pepper and transfer the fennel to an oven tray. Place in the oven for 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat an ovenproof non-stick frying pan and add a drizzle of oil. When hot, place the fish, skin side down, in the pan and season with salt. Cook until the skin starts to turn golden, then transfer to the oven to cook for 4 minutes.

When ready, take out the fennel; keep warm. Remove the fish and flip it over; it will finish cooking in the heat of the pan. Warm the crab sauce.

Spoon the crab mayonnaise into the centre of 4 warmed plates, top with the fish and place the fennel alongside. Spoon the crab sauce around the fish. Finish with the orange pieces and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve at once.

Crab stock
MAKES ABOUT 500ML

1kg live shore crabs
olive oil, for cooking
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
6 ripe tomatoes, chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
finely pared zest and juice of 1 orange

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Put the crabs on a roasting tray and roast for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large pan over a medium heat, add a little olive oil and sweat the onions, carrots, tomatoes, garlic and orange zest for 5 minutes until lightly coloured. Once the crabs are roasted, chop them and add to the pan. Pour on enough water to cover and add the orange juice. Simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve into another pan. Simmer to reduce by half. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. The stock is now ready to use. You can store it in the fridge for up to 2 days or freeze it for up to a month.