As an alternative to paddle crab use some baby squid cut into thin strips and quickly pan fried, or some pan-fried white fish fillets.
Ingredients
| 4 | Paddle crabs, live (Main) |
| 1 tsp | Sea salt |
| 4 | Large ripe tomatoes |
| 4 | Red capsicums, core and seeds removed |
| 1 | Telegraph cucumber |
| ½ | Small red onions, peeled |
| 1 | Garlic clove, peeled |
| 100 ml | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 75 ml | Red wine vinegar, use a good quality vinegar |
| ¼ cup | Chives, finely chopped |
Directions
- Place paddle crabs in the freezer for 1 hour to prepare humanely. Remove from freezer and place into a large pot of salted boiling water.
- Once water comes back to the boil, cook crabs for a further 2 minutes then remove from the pot, using a slotted spoon, and plunge into iced water to cool completely.
- Once cool, remove from iced water and drain. Remove the top shell and the dead man's fingers (gills) and pick crab meat using a lobster picker or bamboo skewer. Refrigerate crab meat until ready to use.
- To make gazpacho, roughly chop vegetables and blend in a food processor on high speed until as smooth as possible.
- Pass through a coarse sieve or mouli, add olive oil and vinegar, mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place gazpacho into a stainless bowl and chill completely, either in a refrigerator or over ice.
- Once chilled, divide between 4 bowls and scatter with fresh-picked paddle crab and chives.
- Finish with a little extra olive oil if desired.