Here are a selection of our favourite recipes, some of which are written by local chef Chris Lanyon of Chapel Café in Port Isaac and the owner of the design agency that created this website who himself is a bit of a foodie and shellfish lover! (Russell Hogg from Hogtronix). There is something here for every occasion from a quick lunchtime snack to a big dinner party with family and friends. Happy cooking!
Ingredients
1 small red onion, chopped
1 bunch spring onions
1oz butter
1oz plain flour
½ pint milk
1tsp English mustard
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 splash brand
6oz grated cheddar
2 oz grated Parmesan
fresh tarragon (optional)
salt and pepper
olive oil
Method
1. Put oil into heavy pan with onion and spring onion and fry over a low heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Add butter and when melted add the flour to make a roux (about 3 minutes stirring constantly).
3. Turn up the heat and add the brandy – STAND BACK!
4. Turn down the heat and add both mustards and the tarragon then add the milk, a ladle at a time stirring constantly – use a whisk to beat out any lumps.
5. Bring to a simmer and then add the cheddar and cook for about 6-8 minutes.
6. Hopefully your lobsters have been already prepped for you so all you need to do is remove all the meat including the tail and the claw meat, and then return it all to the empty lobster shell.
7. Spoon over the cheddar sauce, sprinkle with the Parmesan and put under a medium grill until golden – ENJOY!
The Sauce
Chopped shallots
Spring onions
Whiskey
Butter
Scollops or king prawns chopped
Lemon juice
Method
Pan fry the shallots and the spring onions for about 4-5 minutes. Then up the heat and chuck in the scallops/prawns and then the whiskey and lemon juice and flame finish with butter and seasoning. Pour over your lobster and put in the oven for 5 minutes.
With lovely fresh lobster you don’t need to mess around with it but you can enhance it by adding flavoured butters.
Heres a few of my favourites:
Noilly prat and Dill – if you can’t get Noilly prat then a dry vermouth with do – add to softened butter.
Lemongrass and chilli – Bruise the lemon grass and then chop. Dry roast some chilli flakes for a minute or so and then add everything to softened butter.
Mexican Slammer – Fresh lime, sea salt and tequilla added to softened butter.
Just wrap your fresh lobster in foil and cover with the sliced flavoured butter. Seal the foil parcel and pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Ansom.
Remove lobster meat from shell. Grate a clove of garlic into some mayo and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mix in the lobster.
Slice a hot dog roll (length-ways) and put in the oven for 5 minutes.
Fill roll with lobster mix and top with thin slices of red onion.
Ingredients
Large handful of wild garlic, flowers included
Mature crumbly cheese (I prefer Davidstow cheeses)
Almond flakes and/or sunflower seeds
Good quality olive oil
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
Method
It’s hard to give exact quantities for this recipe as it depends on the amount of wild garlic you’ve picked and how you like your pesto to taste. I like mine to be quite garlicky and I find that by adding a pinch of crushed chilli, it helps to bring out that garlic flavour a little more.
Start by crushing your almond flakes and sunflower seeds in a pestal and mortar. You should find they crush fairly well but don’t worry if not, a little texture can be nice in a pesto anyway. Next, roughly chop the wild garlic, removing any dead stems and then rinse this under a cold tap in a collendar before transferring to a bowl.
Next stage is to blitz the wild garlic with a hand blender. It should only take a minute or so. Then, add in the crushed nuts and mix in with a spoon before giving it all a bit of a hit with the blitzer again. Then add in the cheese with you can either grate, or crumble. Add a teaspoon or so of oil and again mix with a spoon. Keep adding in little dribbles of oil until it starts looking like a pesto which is liquid like but not so much that it pours.
Once the texture and taste is about right, pour into sterilised jars and keep sealed in the fridge by up to a week or so. I love using this with a homemade pasta or tortellini.
Ingredients
Fresh or tinned Crab meat
Eggs
Pasta Flour
Olive Oil
Pesto (optional)
Garlic (optional)
Method
Start my preparing the fresh pasta as this will need chilling in the fridge for a short while before rolling out.
To make your pasta, empty around a fifth of a Kilo bag of pasta flour into a non metallic bowl. Hollow the middle and add to this hollow 2 fresh egg yolks which you need to mix together. Add a good glug off olive oil and draw the flour into the egg yolk mixture. Keep turning the flour with a spatula and after a while if should start to become a sticky mass.
Roll the pasta onto a work surface dusted with flour and kneed and stretch the dough for about 10 minutes or so. Don’t allow the dough to become too dry. Once prepared, and rolled into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare your crab. Assuming it’s been cooked already, you should now season it. I like to add chilli flakes or chilli powder and a little olive oil. I sometimes fry off fresh crab very quickly after seasoning as I find it absorbs more flavour. You need your crab so be small enough in pieces to pinch between your fingers as the tortellini filling isn’t that dense.
To make the tortellini you next need to roll out your pasta. A pasta machine is perfect for this but otherwise, use a rolling pin and a well floured work surface again. And you are aiming for quite a thin pasta so you can taste the crab without the pasta being ‘gloopy’ or starchy. But don’t make it too thin either because if the pasta doesn’t hold together, you’ll loose the entire flavour of the tortellini filling.
Once rolled out into rectangles, cut out some circles using a pastry cutter or bottom of a beer bottle (always available in our kitchen!) Add your crab mixture to one half of the circle and then fold over the other half so you have a filled semi circle. Push down the sides of the semi circle so that the pasta binds against itself. If you pasta doesn’t bind, you can brush one edge of the pasta with water or an egg wash if need be.
Once you have a filled semi circle parcel, bend the straight edge of the semi circle as if wrapping around your little finger so the 2 corners overlap each other…and again, gently squeeze the pasta together to bind.
To cook the pasta, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the pasta and when it floats to the surface, probably in around 3 minutes or so, the pasta is done. I like to then fry off the pasta using a little olive oil in a frying pan, where if required, you can add garlic, chilli, or pesto.
