Crab sticks

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This ingeniously simple crab stick recipe makes a fantastic dinner party snack. Brown crab meat is often overlooked in favour of the white meat of the claws and legs, but here, James Mackenzie shows off its versatility and bold, rich flavour wonderfully.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
To start the dish, mix the brown crab meat with the breadcrumbs, zest of half the lemon and two thirds of the chopped dill. Season the mix with some cayenne and a little salt, place in a piping bag with a fine plain nozzle and refrigerate
2
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle. Cut in half lengthways and pipe 3 to 4 lines of the brown crab mix evenly down the length of one piece of the pastry. Brush in-between the crab with beaten egg and sprinkle some chopped dill evenly over the crab and pastry
  • 1/3 bunch of dill, chopped
  • 500g of puff pastry, 'all-butter'
  • 2 eggs, beaten for egg wash
3
Lay the other sheet of pastry over the crab mix and carefully seal. Brush with egg and sprinkle with the fennel seeds, then transfer to a baking sheet and put in the freezer
4
Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
5
Once semi-frozen, remove from the freezer and cut across the length of the pastry into thin sticks, approximately 1cm in thickness. Place a non-stick baking mat onto an oven tray, space the crab sticks out on top and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown
6
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray before serving
First published in 2015

Behind every strong man there’s a strong woman and never has that maxim rung truer than at the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass, where talented chef-proprietor James Mackenzie resides with his equally capable front-of-house wife, Kate.

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