Chilli spanner crab

I’d like to share this recipe with you—it’s a spectacular dish that is easily prepared, and uses very simple ingredients. You will need two 800 g spanner crabs to serve two people as a main course, or to serve four people to share. The crabs should be green (i.e. fresh and uncooked, preferably live).

Paste
300 g long red chillies
200 g peeled eschallots, sliced
175 ml vegetable oil
1 bunch coriander, chopped
4 garlic cloves
¼ knob ginger
50 ml fish sauce
1 tbs palm sugar
(See note below)

Method
Blister the chilli on a charcoal grill, barbecue or in a hot oven, cover, cool and peel. De-seed if you require your paste a little lighter.

Shallow fry the garlic and eschallots together in the oil until golden; drain and cool.

In a blender process the chillies, garlic, eschallots, ginger, fish sauce and palm sugar until smooth.

To cook the crab: kill, clean and split the green crabs then heat a nice size wok. Splash in a good amount of oil and fry the paste for a minute.

Cook the crabs covered, on a low heat, for five minutes. To finish, squeeze in the juice of one lime and serve with freshly chopped coriander and a slice of lime.

Note: use the paste at your discretion. The paste can be stored refrigerated for 7 to 10 days.

Perry Hill

Renovations at The Boathouse
We will be closed for the week of 26 June, reopening Tuesday 4 July, replacing the kitchen floor, refurbishing the bathrooms and painting the exterior of the building. We apologise if this inconveniences anyone but felt that it was better to get this all done in a few days of intensive work rather than drag it out over a longer period.

Gourmet Traveller Food and Wine Dinner
On 24 July The Boathouse will be the venue for a Gourmet Traveller Food and Wine Dinner, featuring d’Arenberg wines. Join us and winemaker Chester Osborn from d’Arenberg, at 6.30 pm for 7.00 pm. Cost is $115 per person. Please call us on 9518 9011 for information and bookings.

A Word from the Chef

Dear friends,

Winter is upon us, serving up a delicious retreat from what was a long hot summer, and presenting us with a new selection of seasonal produce.

We have the fireplace stoked up in the dining room and some exciting new additions to the menu—bourride and bouillabaisse—classic fish stews from the Mediterranean.

Bourride is almost as popular in Provence as bouillabaisse. Traditionally a variety of fish, three or four, are poached in a court bouillon and the resulting cooking liquor or stock is whisked into aioli which thickens into a garlicy sauce. The sauce is served over croutons with the fish served on top. Sometimes sauce rouille is also served with the bourride and often the aioli is flavoured with various things like sea urchin, seaweed, or pastis. We are using the same principles and serving yabbies in bourride with Murray cod and King George whiting.

Bouillabaisse is quite different in that it is essential that a variety of fish such as rock-fish are used to achieve the characteristic taste and aroma. Some French chefs maintain ‘a bouillabaisse without rascasse is like paella without rice’. Rascasse is a small rock-fish found in the Mediterranean and we use little rock cod in its place. The serving of this dish requires a few guests because of the number and variety of fish needed to really make it work.

The bouillabaisse (above right) is a spectacular course. Served for two in a large copper pot or ‘légumier’, full of steaming Kangaroo Island marrons, blue swimmer crabs, rouget, rock cod, ocean leather jackets, bass grouper, Coffin Bay clams and other delicious seafood. It is served to you at the table, complemented with rouille and our great bread to soak up those amazing juices.

Fish-wise we have the rarely seen cobia or black kingfish – which has a flavour not unlike Spanish mackerel. This fish feeds on small crabs and squid, developing a high oil content which makes it perfect for smoking. It is served with Boston Bay mussels and preserved lemon—a real winter treat.

From our new menu section, 'Whole Fish', we are featuring South Australian King George whiting (left), served with nettle butter, lemon and garlic. Another new dish, perfect for warming you up in the cold weather is steamed Murray cod with smoked ocean trout chowder and bacon.

Oyster-wise, the Kangaroo Island Pacific oyster is back; it comes from the cold, pristine waters of the Great Australian Bight giving it an extremely clean, deep washed kelp flavour. We also have the Port Stephens Pacifics, which are spectacular, nutty and long on the palate. A new transport regime ensures that they are in the best condition we have ever received them in. Our fingers are crossed for the arrival of samphire in the next couple of weeks. Samphire is a coastal growing, grass-like sea vegetable, native to Kangaroo Island and has a salty but pronounced asparagus flavour.

Last but never least, citrus is in season and Jason (our Pastry Chef) has produced a delicious mandarin and Grand Marnier souffle and cumquat creme brulee that will round out your meal, leaving you fully satisfied.

A quiet word about quince
For me the quince is a perfect symbol to the start of winter; the scent of slowly cooking quince recalls cold rain-soaked days and log fires. It demands that you slow down, as time is required to extract the precious rose and spice scented notes of this delicious fruit, a process that holds significant value in a world of quick fixes. Quince is a sentimental favorite of mine as recipes have long been handed down in my family, each generation giving a new twist. Today I like my quince in a tarte Tatin. Slices of quince are smothered in a rich butter caramel and baked with thick puff pastry then simply served with vanilla ice cream.

Hope we see you soon at The Boathouse.

Perry Hill

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