Who says you can’t enjoy delicious fish or seafood on Easter? Certainly not us! We’ve gathered 3 of our favourite starter recipes with fish and seafood that would make the perfect start of your Easter Lunch or any other dinner party you’re hosting!
Potted Crab with Asparagus
Starter Recipes for Easter
Author:
Serves: 6 – 8
Feel free to play with the recipe to adapt it to your taste! You can tone down and fire up the spiciness! Make sure you get fresh crabmeat as it’s the star of the dish! This dish can be made ahead of the meal so you have more time for your guests!
Ingredients
- 1 fresh red chilli
- a few sprigs of fresh dill
- 300 g fresh crabmeat, two-thirds white and one-third brown
- 1 Sicilian lemon
- 1 good pinch of ground mace
- 1 good pinch of ground cayenne
- 1 whole nutmeg, for grating
- 225 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
Instructions
- Deseed and finely chop the chilli, and pick the dill fronds.
- In a bowl, mix the crab, lemon zest and juice, mace, cayenne and a good grating of nutmeg, the chilli and a pinch of sea salt. Gently mix in 125g of the butter, ensuring there are no lumps.
- Spoon into a small serving bowl, smoothing the surface and pressing down with the back of a spoon. Scatter the dill over the top.
- Gently melt the remaining butter in a pan until it separates. Discarding the solids, spoon the clarified (liquid) butter over the crab. Cover and chill in the fridge for several hours, until set.
- Serve the potted crab with hot sourdough toasts, buttery asparagus and lemon wedges on the side.
Sauteed Scallops with mushrooms & spinach sauce
Starter Recipes for Easter
Author:
Serves: 2
Scallops take very little time to cook so it’s a dish you can quickly put together just before serving! Check out our tips to make sure you cook the perfect scallops!
Ingredients
- 3 big knobs of butter
- 100g mushroom, sliced (button, chestnut or cleaned wild)
- 100g spinach, stems trimmed and washed
- 2 tsp groundnut oil
- 6 good-sized scallops, shelled and cleaned (with or without corals)
- nutmeg, for grating
Instructions
- Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan. Once sizzling, add the mushrooms and fry for just a min or two before adding the spinach. Cook on a high heat for about 1 min, allowing the leaves to wilt and soften. Drain the leaves and mushrooms in a sieve or small colander set over a bowl, pressing them gently in the sieve to release the juices (the juices will provide the base for the sauce, so don’t discard them). Keep warm to one side.
- Heat the oil in a separate clean frying pan. When very hot, add the scallops. Sauté for a couple of mins without disturbing them at all, then add a knob of butter to the pan. Turn the scallops, season with salt and pepper, then baste with the sizzling butter. Continue to cook for a further couple of mins until the scallops are ready.
- While sautéing the scallops, return the saved spinach juices to the pan the spinach and mushrooms were cooked in, then whisk in the remaining knob of butter to create the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
- Now finish in style: Arrange spinach and mushrooms on plates or in bowls, put the scallops on top, then spoon the nutmeg spinach sauce around.
Prawn Cocktail
Starter Recipes for Easter
Author:
Serves: 4
Prawn cocktail is the perfect appetiser to kick-start a meal: it’s simple to make and it’s packed with delicious seafood. You can save yourself more time by buying shelled and cooked prawns.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- ½ a clove of garlic
- cayenne pepper
- 8 unpeeled, large, raw tiger prawns
- ¼ of an iceberg lettuce
- ¼ of a cucumber
- 1-2 ripe tomatoes
- 1 sprig of fresh mint
- 1 small punnet of salad cress
- 50 g peeled little prawns
- 100 g mixed white and brown crabmeat
- 1 lemon
- FOR THE MARIE ROSE SAUCE:
- ½ a lemon
- 1 swig of brandy (optional)
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 heaped teaspoon ketchup
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Heat a glug of oil in a pan over a high heat. Crush and add the garlic, then stir in 1 pinch of cayenne pepper and the tiger prawns.
- Toss the prawns for 3 to 4 minutes, or till cooked through. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- For the Marie rose sauce, combine the lemon juice with the remaining ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Shred the lettuce, dice the cucumber, thinly slice the tomato and pick the mint leaves, then layer in bowls or jars. Snip in most of the cress.
- Add the peeled prawns, dollop with Marie rose sauce and finish with crabmeat and more cress.
- Add a pinch of cayenne pepper and hang a hot prawn or two off the side of the bowl or jar. Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.
