King crab, leeks, red pepper and cardamom dressing and sea vegetable salad

Dave Watts pairs glorious king crab with a host of sea vegetables, leeks and warming red pepper in this summery king crab recipe.

📝 Ingredients

• 1.7 kg king crab, 500g in meat
• 150 g of natural yoghurt
• 6 g of coriander, julienned or chiffonade
• 12 g of lime juice
• 3 g of lime zest
• 6 g of salt
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
• 5 red peppers, stalks and seeds removed
• 1 green cardamom pod, roasted for 2 minutes at 180°C
• 10 g of honey
• 1 g of salt
• 25 ml of rapeseed oil
• 1 pinch of black pepper
• 0.2 g of xantana
• 1 red pepper, large
• 1 g of salt
• 1 g of garlic, sliced
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 20 ml of rapeseed oil
• 10 ml of Mizkan Honteri
• 4 g of sea aster
• 4 g of sea buckthorn, leaves only
• 8 g of samphire
• 4 g of sea purslane
• 4 g of wakame seaweed
• 4 baby leeks
• 1/4 lemon, juiced
• 20 g of salt, mixed with 1 litre of water
• 10 ml of rapeseed oil
• 3 leeks
• 2 g of salt
• 20 ml of rapeseed oil
• red vein sorrel leaves
• salt
• rapeseed oil

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Begin by preparing the king crab. Steam the crab for 10 minutes, remove the claws and legs and place in ice water. Steam the body for a further 8 minutes before adding to the ice water with the legs
2. 2Once cooled, remove the meat from the body, legs and claws, setting aside 8 large, intact pieces of leg meat for presentation. Chop the rest of the meat, checking for shell and cartilage as you go
3. 3Place the chopped meat and all the remaining ingredients into a bowl, mix well and check the seasoning. Store in a suitable container and reserve on ice until required
4. 4For the red pepper and cardamom dressing, juice the red peppers and hang in a chinois over a jug until all of the liquid has drained into it and the remaining solids are dry. Place the liquid in a pan over a medium heat and reduce down to 40ml
5. 5Meanwhile, remove the black seeds from the cardamom pod and crush to make a powder using a pestle and mortar. Add the remaining ingredients and cardamom powder to the reduced pepper juice, then blitz in a blender to incorporate. Check the seasoning and reserve in a squeezy bottle
6. 6For the roasted red pepper, place the pepper onto a very hot chargrill (grill plate or pan), or under a hot grill, turning every few minutes until blackened all over. Place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to sweat and cool
7. 7Once cool, remove the skin, seeds and stalk. Slice the flesh into 4mm thick pieces, place back into the bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Reserve until required
8. 8For the sea vegetables, bring the salt and water mix to the boil. Blanch all of the sea vegetables for 30 seconds, then drain (reserving the water) and refresh in ice water for 1 minute. Drain on kitchen paper and place in a bowl, then add half of the rapeseed oil and season with a small amount of lemon juice
9. 9Blanch the leeks in the reserved water for 3 minutes, then refresh in ice water for 1 minute and drain on kitchen paper. Cut diagonally into 16 pieces, season with the remaining oil and lemon juice and set aside until required
10. 10For the blackened leeks, slice 16 rounds of leek, approximately 2mm in thickness. To burn the remaining whole leeks, place on a chargrill until blackened all over, then place in a bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to cool, then place the rounds of leek onto the chargrill and blacken on one side
11. 11Once the whole leek has cooled, peel off a couple of the outer layers and cut into 8cm lengths. Season with the salt and coat in the rapeseed oil
12. 12To serve, place the burnt leek batons into the centre of each plate, followed by a piece of the reserved crab leg meat. Season each with a pinch of salt and a drop of rapeseed oil
13. 13Place the crab salad over the leek, followed by the roasted red pepper and the burnt leek rounds. Arrange the sea vegetables and baby leeks around each plate, followed by dots of the red pepper dressing and a little of the oil from the roasted red peppers. Garnish with the sorrel leaves and serve