Santa puts the claw and tail meat from eco-friendly, wild crayfish into this sumptuous new starter for his and your Christmas dinner this year. He’ll also use the shells to make a warming crayfish bisque for Boxing Day. Both dishes are recipes created by international food writer, chef and restaurateur Anna Fidler for The Kennet Crayfish Company. For busy Christmas Day cooks, both dishes can be made on Christmas Eve!
The Kennet Crayfish Company, one of three finalists for “Food Producer of the Year” in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2024, provides wild crayfish from the crystal clear, nutrient rich waters of one of only 200 chalk streams in the world. The signal crayfish are an invasive species, which need to be culled to protect native crayfish, other wildlife and the river environment. Humanely processed in a unique bio-secure facility designed for high welfare, the crayfish can be ordered par-cooked or fully cooked from the company website at www.kennetcrayfish.com for next day delivery.
Christmas Potted Crayfish with Nutmeg and Sage Butter
Serves 4 as a starter
100g unsalted butter
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
A generous grating of nutmeg
6-8 sage leaves, chopped
Approximately 350g cooked crayfish meat (tail and claw)
Salt and pepper to season
1small loaf of your choice, sliced and toasted
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and add the cayenne pepper, nutmeg and sage. Ideally, leave this to infuse the flavours for an hour or so. Add the cooked crayfish meat to the pan stir and gently warm through on a low heat, season to taste.
Using a large slotted spoon, remove the crayfish and press them into your 4 ramekins (or serving dishes of your choice). Then pour the melted butter from the saucepan over the crayfish to cover. Either serve immediately or pop in the fridge to set.
You can serve your potted crayfish cool, room temperature or warmed up. Cool, on hot toast, is my favourite because the heat of the toast melts the butter. I prefer to take them from the fridge and leave them out on the counter for an hour then toast the bread at the last minute, so the cooler crayfish/butter mix melts fast and you don’t end up with cold toast!
Potted crayfish are better the day after they’re made, so if you want to do that, pack them into ramekins (or a jar), pour the warm, seasoned butter over them and refrigerate. If the butter doesn’t cover the crayfish, that’s fine, as long as you eat them all in a day or so. If you want to store them for up to a month, you need to make sure the crayfish are totally covered by the butter.
Santa’s Boxing Day Crayfish Bisque
Make the most of the whole crayfish, this bisque uses the shells, heads and small claws that are left over from your Christmas potted crayfish!
The ingredient quantities are calculated for approximately 1kg of crayfish, so they can be increased or decreased, depending on how much shells you have left over.
Serves 4-6:
1 kg of leftover crayfish (heads, shells, small claws)
2 bay leaves
Handful of fennel stalks (optional)
1 lemon, peeled and cut into quarters
50g butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250ml white wine
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. tomato purée
2 tbsp. plain flour: or, traditionally chefs would thicken the soup by grinding some of the
crustacean shells into ultra fine powder.
2 tbsp. Brandy (optional)
A little double cream (optional)
Place the shells, bay leaves, fennel and lemon in a large pan, covering with cold water and boil for 20 minutes before straining and reserving the liquid. The bisque needs approximately 1.5 litres of stock so top up with boiling water, if needed.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the shallots, celery and carrot over a gentle heat until soft and fragrant. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute or two before adding the wine. Cook until the wine is reduced by about half then stir in the cayenne and tomato purée, mixing well before sprinkling over the flour and whisking briskly to remove any lumps. Cook for a minute or two then add the crayfish stock a little at a time, mixing well to ensure no lumps are forming. Simmer gently until thickened, then blitz until smooth using a stick blender. Pour through a sieve in a large bowl, pressing down with the back of a spoon to push through as much as possible. Pour back into the pan and season to taste before reheating, adding the brandy and cream, if you fancy! Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
*Traditionally chefs would thicken the soup by grinding some of the crustacean shells into an ultra fine powder.
