Not just a pan full of rice and green bits

The English asparagus season is just around the corner.  If you like it as much as I do then you're probably in danger of running out of things to do with it before the season comes to an end.  Luckily where I live it's really easy to get hold of fresh Cromer crabs.  And there's almost no better pairing than crab and asparagus.  Like in this:

Crab and asparagus risotto

One small sermon before I begin:  Food-bores like me are always twatting on about how it's the quality of the ingredients that matters the most.  This is always true, to a certain degree, but in this dish it's absolutely paramount.  It's designed to show off two flavours and not mask them with anything else.  So if you can't get fresh, flavoursome asparagus and crab this isn't one to try.  You'll just end up with a pan full of rice and green bits.

And if you're even thinking of attempting this with tinned crab meat please un-follow this blog now.

For four people you will need:

One bunch of asparagus (about 200g I think but if you're buying it fresh then it'll be in bunches), scrubbed
One fresh, dressed crab.
Two shallots, peeled and diced
One medium carrot and two sticks of celery, scrubbed and diced
One glass of dry white wine
Two cloves of garlic, peeled, flattened with a blade and chopped
150g of Arborio or Carnaroli rice
500ml of light stock (vegetable, fish or chicken in that order)
Zest and juice of one lemon
One small bunch of flat leaf parsley, rinsed and chopped
One tablespoon of creme fraiche
Olive oil for frying
Chilli oil and lemon wedges to serve

Remove the crab meat from the shell and set aside.  Put the shell in a saucepan with the stock, cover and bring to a gentle simmer.

Put olive oil, the shallots, carrot and celery into a pan large enough to take all the ingredients and fry gently.

While the veg are frying, dry off the asparagus and dress with some olive oil - just enough to lightly coat the spears.  Bring a frying pan or (ideally) griddle to smoking heat and then toss the asparagus in small batches in the pan.  You're aiming to get small spots of colour on the asparagus - not cook it.  They should come out slightly coloured but still springy and crunchy.  If they go limp they either weren't fresh or you've over cooked them: abandon the whole thing, storm out of the kitchen and think carefully about what you've done.

Once all the asparagus spears have had their treatment, set aside to cool.

Once the shallots and celery are translucent and sticky add the garlic.  Fry gently for a couple of minutes and then add the rice.  Stir it through, making sure each grain is liberally coated, then whack the heat up to full and pour in the glass of wine.  Keep stirring until the wine has evapourated, the hiss of steam has turned back into the snap and sizzle of frying, and then reduce the heat back to gentle simmer and add a ladle full of the hot stock.  

Once everything's bubbling gently and there are no sticky bits left on the bottom of the pan stir in the crab meat, the lemon zest and juice.  If you have any nice big lumps of white meat try not to break them up too much - they add some texture to the finished article.  Keep adding stock and stirring gently until the rice is cooked through.  You're looking for a firm texture with a soft outside.  Chewy's OK, gritty isn't cooked properly.  Stir through the parsley, and cook for another minute.  Finally, when you're happy with the texture chop the asparagus into bite sized pieces and stir in together with the creme fraiche.  Cover and let the whole thing warm through before serving.

I like to dress with a little chilli oil and squeeze of lemon juice.