Cooking crab method

1. Bring your water to the boil with the salt, if cooking a large crab, you will at least need 2 litres of water to cover the crab. Once to the boil add the remaining ingredients and leave to simmer for 2 minutes
2. To kill the crab, turn it over and lift the small, pointed flap to expose a small, indented hole. Using a sharp pointed object like a stiff boning knife or even a screwdriver push down through the hole until you hit the other side of the top shell. The crab will now be dead and ready to go into the pan.
3. Return the simmering pan to the boil and place the crab into the pan and cook for 8-9 minutes for a 1kg crab and adjust the time according to size i.e. 2kg crab cooks for 16-18 minutes.
4. Remove the crab from the boiling water and leave in a colander to cool until room temperature.
5. To pick the crab meat, put the crab on its back and remove all the legs and the two claws, now use your two thumbs to push up the main central body known as the purse. On the underside of the body, you need to remove the gills also known as the dead man’s fingers and discard. You can now remove the white meat from the body using a crab pick or skewer and the legs and claws by using a hammer or rolling pin to crack the shells. Once all the white meat is picked use your fingers to feel through the meat for any shell.
6. Use a teaspoon to scrape out the brown meat from inside the corners of the main brown shell
7. Your crab meat should be refrigerated until needed and eaten as fresh as possible within two days of cooking and picking.

Linguine method

1. Start to cook the pasta in well-seasoned water until just cooked
2. Warm a large non-stick pan and start to toast the pine nuts until golden in colour, then reduce the heat slightly and add the olive oil
3. Add the chilli, garlic, and chilli flakes to the warm oil and start to cook out being careful not to fry the garlic!
4. Season the tomato halves with sea salt and add to the pan to slightly soften then add the fresh crab and slightly reduce the heat, you do not want to fry the crab just warm through.
5. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice and sea salt to season then add the drained pasta and lightly mix through the ingredients
6. Use a fine grater to grate fresh lemon zest into the pasta then lightly fold though the rocket and chopped parsley.
7. Check the seasonings and add more acidity if needed, serve straight away in bowls making sure you get a good mixture of ingredients into each portion and finish with grated Parmesan.