Crab is very underused in this country, as people often feel intimidated by it. I don’t much use brown crab, but when I do, I thicken it with mayonnaise so it becomes a beautiful paste, and serve it smeared on bruschetta. The king of the crab world is the white crab: it has an amazing flavour. But the most flavoursome crabs in the world are spider crabs; unfortunately they are not used in Britain all that much, as the preparation — picking all the meat out from the legs — is seen as too lengthy. The idea of this salad is to show you a light, fragrant and exciting way to eat crab. The ginger and lemon confit give it a lift. Here I’ve also used apple and fennel — very delicate flavours that are not too rich for the palate.

Fennel is often sliced too thickly in restaurants, which makes it harder to digest. Here I’ve used a mandolin and I would suggest you do the same, as it will give you really thin slices and it’s easy to do.

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced

A small bunch of fresh chives or coriander, chopped

250g fresh, picked white crabmeat

1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

10g grated ginger

50ml mayonnaise (preferably home-made)

2 baby gem lettuces, divided into leaves

Classic vinaigrette

1 bulb of fennel, finely sliced and soaked in iced water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fresh coriander leaves

Method

Mix the apples, herbs, crabmeat, chilli, lemon zest, ginger and mayonnaise in a bowl.

Drizzle the baby gem leaves with the vinaigrette, toss together and lay on a chilled plate.

Season the fennel shavings and scatter over the gem lettuce, leaving a well in the centre. Spoon the crabmeat into the centre of the salad and sprinkle a few leaves of coriander over the top.

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