Ireland’s Greatest Ingredients part 1 – Crab claws with garlic butter.

I have to give you a little bit of background to this post and the inspiration for this new, occasional series, Ireland’s Greatest Ingredients. A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Liam Quinlan. Liam is a Kerryman (nothing wrong with that) and is passionate about the seafood that his family company produces. Liam travelled to Dublin by train. I met him at Huston station and we spent a few hours together. Liam brought me a styrofoam box. “Just some crab and a bit of salmon for you to try.” he said in his self deprecatory way. 

One of the things that impressed me most about our conversation was the passion that Liam has for Kerry seafood. They catch, process and retail their own fish, exporting a good deal of it to enthusiastic customers on mainland Europe. We were lucky enough to try some crab claws and some lovely crab meat. The crab is cooked in salt water, giving it a unique flavour. Today, we’ll concentrate on the crab claws. When ingredients are as good and fresh as these, simple preparation is the golden rule.

Imagine my embarrassment when I realised that I had left one of the four ingredients out of the shot.

How did I manage to forget the garlic? Four ingredients, for goodness sake!

The ingredients:

• 12 prepared crab claws
• 3 cloves of garlic or one single bulb garlic
• 120 grammes of butter (1 stick American)
• 1 handful of fresh parsley

Melt the butter over a low to medium heat.

There is no doubt that Irish butter is the best in the world.

Chop the garlic and add to the butter. heat it until the aroma of garlic butter fills the kitchen. Don’t over-heat the butter.

The wonderful garlic butter smell will drive you wild.

Add the crab claws to the butter and warm through.

The claws take on the glorious garlic butter taste.

Add the chopped parsley and toss to coat.

The fresh parsley works perfectly with the garlic and sweet crab meat.

Serve the crab claws once they are heated through. Spoon the delicious garlic butter over the claws.

Any excuse for a pouring shot. Not often I get to pour butter!

I can’t relate to you how delicious these claws were. The meat was sweet and tasted perfect with the garlic, butter and parsley. The picture tells its own story.

There’s not much else to say about how tasty these were.

I look forward to cooking the crab meat (any suggestions welcomed). These Kerry crab claws really are a worthy first in my Ireland’s Greatest Ingredients series.