Some photos of this week’s market purchases…
The Korean stall had these gorgeous mushrooms – enoki, trumpet, shitake, baby and mature King Browns. I combined them with some cheaper button mushrooms and a handful of dried porcini to make mushroom soup for dinner. The different varieties provided the dish with a complex, satisfying flavour.
Just look at this guy! Cooked Spanner crabs (known as Kona crabs in the US) were just $6.99/kilo, so I was able to buy three of these for $7.50. I bought them more for novelty value than anything else, as I’d never seen a crab that looked quite like this. Most of the meat is in the body, with just a little in the claws and legs.
I picked all the meat, mixed it with Japanese mayonnaise and a little chilli sauce, then served it as a spread on thinly sliced sourdough bread. Made a fantastic starter, but lots of work – I’m not sure I’d go to all that effort again. Having said that, it’s always nice to try something different for a change!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Lovely photos! I have never seen a crab like that either!
Aren’t they unusual, Jo? Apparently they’re the only one of their genus to be commercially fished. There’s more information about them here.
What a gorgeous fish market, Celia! Did you see the recipe for spaghetti with crab, lime and chili at the bottom of the page? Sounds delicious…in fact loads of interesting fishy recipes which I will investigate further, thanks!
It IS a fabulous fish market, Jo – I’ve posted the photos I took there in this post!