Txangurro Gratinado

Txangurro Gratinado is Basque, from the coast where a spider crab is not just seafood but a small event at the table. Txangurro means spider crab, and the dish is the picked meat cooked back into a slow sofrito, the onion base, with leek, tomato, brandy, and a little bread to catch the juices before it goes under the grill. That is what makes it this dish, not a neighbour's crab salad or a plain baked shell.

The method that decides it is the sofrito. Cook the onion and leek low and patient until they go soft, dark gold, and sweet before the tomato goes in. Rush that base and the crab tastes separate, as if it arrived late to its own plate. Let it cook down properly and the sweet shellfish carries through every spoonful.

If you can get live spider crab, good. If not, use freshly picked brown crab or Dungeness crab, and keep some of the brown meat if it tastes clean and sweet. It will not have quite the same deep sea sweetness, but it will make a proper home version. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need good crab, a calm pan, and not too much breadcrumb. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.