Crab & Bramley Apple Tartlets with Brown Crab Mayonnaise

⏱ 75 min · Serves 4

Crisp butter pastry cases filled with sweet white crab meat, sharp green apple and a glossy brown crab mayonnaise that tastes of the sea. A restaurant-style starter that looks far harder than it is — cool, elegant and impossible to stop eating.

Per serving: 610 kcal · 22.0g protein · 31.0g carbs · 44.0g fat

Ingredients

• 250g all-butter shortcrust pastry (or homemade)
• Plain flour, for dusting
• 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp water
• 200g fresh white crab meat, picked over
• 60g brown crab meat
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice, plus 1 tbsp extra
• 120ml light rapeseed oil
• A few drops Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 2 tbsp crème fraîche
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
• 1 tbsp finely chopped dill
• 1/2 small fennel bulb, shaved wafer-thin
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and white pepper
• Baby watercress or dill fronds, to garnish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan. Roll the pastry to 3mm on a floured surface and line four 10cm loose-bottomed tartlet tins, pressing well into the corners. Chill 20 minutes.
2. Line the cases with baking paper and baking beans, blind bake 15 minutes, remove the beans, brush the insides with egg yolk wash and bake a further 8-10 minutes until deep golden and crisp. Cool completely.
3. Make the brown crab mayonnaise: whisk the egg yolk, Dijon, 1 tsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Drizzle in the oil a few drops at a time, whisking constantly, until thick and emulsified.
4. Push the brown crab meat through a fine sieve into the mayonnaise, then whisk in the Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and a little white pepper. Taste and adjust with lemon and salt. Chill.
5. Core and finely dice half the apple (skin on) and toss in the extra lemon juice. Cut the remaining half into fine matchsticks and keep in lemony water.
6. Gently fold the white crab meat with the crème fraîche, lemon zest, chives, dill, diced apple and 2 tbsp of the brown crab mayonnaise. Season carefully — crab is salty.
7. Toss the shaved fennel and drained apple matchsticks with the olive oil and a pinch of salt.
8. Spread a spoonful of brown crab mayonnaise in the base of each cooled tart case. Pile the crab mixture on top and level lightly.
9. Crown each tartlet with the fennel and apple salad, add a few dots of the remaining mayonnaise and finish with watercress or dill. Serve immediately, while the pastry is still crisp.