Crab and shellfish stew
An Italian-inspired stew that makes an excellent celebration dinner.
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
- ml Olive oil
- Shallots, finely chopped
- Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- g Tomatoes, roughly chopped
- ml White wine, dry
- tins of tomatoes
- Salt
For the crab and shellfish stew
- Whole crabs, large, split
- kg Cockles
- kg Mussels
- ml Mussel stock or water
- ml Olive oil
- Leek, white part only
- Fennel
- Celery sticks
- Thyme sprigs
- tsp Chilli flakes
- ml White wine, dry
- small bunch of flat-leaf parsley
- Salt
Instructions
Tomato sauce
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the shallot and garlic over a medium heat until translucent.
Add the roughly chopped tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes more, then add the wine and reduce by half.
Blitz the tinned tomatoes to a purée with a stick blender and add them to the pan. Cook, covered, for a further 40 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
Crab and shellfish stew
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and add the finely chopped leek, fennel, celery, thyme and chilli flakes. Cook over a medium heat until the vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes.
Add the wine and the stock or water and steam the shellfish for about 2 minutes. Then add the tomato sauce and the crabs, mix everything together and steam, covered, for a further 3 minutes or so, until the shells have opened and the crabs are heated through. Season to taste with salt.
If you can't get hold of cockles, just double the amount of mussels.
Scatter over the parsley and serve with a good baguette.
For the tomato sauce
For the crab and shellfish stew
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