Cooking crayfish

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 17

Cooking crayfish

Alison Holst’s

Food Facts t * i

t We spent a wonderful » ivinter week-end last year at Talpa, north-west of the b Bay of Islands. We were £ lulled to sleep by the • sound of the waves just outside our window, at the u. de Surville Motor Inn and *■ we breakfasted in the sun; a only a few metres from ’ the calm and gentle T beach.

i We walked on golden * sand around beautiful t bays, were taken to catch r and cook kahawai, ads' mired glow-worms in *' amazing surroundings, and felt that we were light years away from our S everyday life. We felt pleased that visitors to New Zealand could also v do this.

Back in Wellington ", again, memories of our r happy time faded quickly, as holiday memories do. i. They returned though, % when I unwrapped the parcel that had been thrust in my bag as I left.

£ It is not often that I get ■t the chance to cook a ' r freshly caught crayfish. I > wanted to make the most of every morsel, so I »>• removed the tail, for serv- £ ing plainly, then made a chunky soup from all the other bits. S This was delicious, and can be made from a relatively inexpensive cooked »» crayfish body, from a fish * shop. A. To cook a crayfish. Put the crayfish in a pot which is just big enough to hold it. Pour boiling water over it, and ’ ’ simmer it. (My 750 gram £ crayfish was nicely ♦••• cooked in 12 minutes.) » Lift it out of the pot and hold it under cold running ' * water, to cool it quickly, u' otherwise it may over--7 cook. * Leave it to stand for at least half an hour before § dismantling it. J Assemble a heavy wooden board, a hammer, Z pliers, and a skewer, or

fine screw-driver, or a nut pick, or something similar, so you can remove every bit Of meat from the broken shell. Make a broth in which you will boil every bit of shell, as you remove the flesh from it. Save a litre of water from cooking the crayfish. Tip out the rest, and make the broth in the same pot. 2 cloves garlic 1 bayleaf 1 shallot or onion 1 stalk celery 1 stalk parsley 1. stalk dill (optional) peel from ’/ 2 lemon or lime 1 litre liquid from cooking crayfish Separate the tail from the rest of the body. (After shelling, the tail of my crayfish weighed 300 g.) Halve tail lengthwise, and remove and discard black thread, then remove and put aside the tail flesh, for other use. Pull off the legs and claws, remove the flesh using the hammer, pliers and skewers, and put all the flesh aside, and the shell in the saucepan. Break the main body shell into pieces, and remove the flesh from the area near the top of the legs. Most of the flesh you get from the carcase comes from here. (I got 180 g.) Cover the pot with. the broth, and cook for 20 minutes, then strain off the liquid, and discard the rest. Wash the pot, then make the chowder in it. 25g butter 3 Tbsp flour 3(4 cups strained crayfish stock 2 Tbsp tomato concentrate % cup cream y 2 cup milk % tsp salt

freshly ground pepper reserved crayfish flesh parsley or other herbs Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and cook on low heat, adding the stock gradually, stirring all the time. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the tomato concentrate, cream, milk, salt and pepper, then bring back to the boil.

Remove from the heat, and stir in the crayfish flesh, and the chopped parsley. If possible, leave to stand for at least half an hour before reheating, and serving.

This makes enough for three to four servings. Serve with warmed, crusty, buttered rolls, and a side salad, if desired. We enjoyed the crayfish tail flesh, cut in pieces, sprinkled with fresh lime (or lemon) juice, then peppered. I think that you have to be careful, even when serving good, homemade mayonnaise with this, since it is easy to mask the crayfish flavour.

We cooked the kahawai that we caught at Taipa within half an hour of catching them, following the instructions of our fishing boat skipper. We filleted and skinned the fish, then simmered them in seawater, with a few peppercorns, some garlic cloves, and a few slices of freshly picked limes, from a nearby garden. As soon as the fillets were translucent, we transferred them straight from the pan to split, buttered, crusty bread rolls, hot from the bakery across the road. The butter on the bread, a little more pepper, and another squeeze of lime juice, made sauce unnecessary. It would have been hard to think of a nicer lunch! To me, this was truly “a taste of New Zealand.”