Crab and sea vegetable salad, by Mark Hix

ingredients
(Serves four as a taster)

• 1 boiled crab, about 750g
• 1tbs mayonnaise
• 1 diced shallot
• 1tbs breadcrumbs
• Touch of chilli
• 4 slivers spelt bread

For the salad(Allow about 80g per portion)

• Blanched purslane leaves
• Boiled marsh samphire
• 1tbs pickled rock samphire (see below)
• Sea beet leaves
• Chopped wild fennel
• Rocket
• Lettuce to taste
• 30ml olive oil
• Up to 10ml vinegar depending on its strength
• Salt
• Wood sorrel

method

Pick the white meat out of the crab. Scoop the brown meat from the shell and combine it with the mayonnaise, shallot, breadcrumbs and chilli. Spread liberally on the four slivers of bread.

In a bowl mix all the salad ingredients and the dressing together, Italian style (don't make the vinaigrette separate from the salad).

Arrange the salad on the plate. Pile white crab meat on top of it. Lay the bread to one side and top with wood sorrel.

PICKLED ROCK SAMPHIRE

Make this either for storing or for using within a few hours. The recipe is the same for marsh samphire, but the taste and texture have little in common. A few of the spiky fronds go a long way, but when they're handled with judgement, they're worth the effort.

Sprinkle coarse salt over 150g of samphire and toss it gently with your fingers. Leave it up to an hour in a colander. Rinse and pat dry. Dissolve a teaspoon of caster sugar in 3-4tbs Muscatel or cider vinegar. Infuse the samphire in this for a few hours or bottle it.