Sunday 13 February 2011

Spidercrab V The Lurgey




I'm not usually ill and even when I am I tend to just get on with things and try not to dwell on it too much. I had Pleurisy for a week once and didn't know so carried on going to work. The Doctors surgery is my most hated place (after the Dentist) and I try to avoid going there as much as possible.

However, this weekend, if I had had the energy I would have run there in my velour romper suit and begged to be put down. I think I have felt the worst I have ever felt in my whole life. The Hong Kong cough has developed into something completely horrendous and has totally ruined the last 2 days of my life. My symptoms are thus: death rattle, pink itchy watery eyes, sneezing fits, achy bones, can't breathe, hot sweats, cold sweats and pulled muscles from coughing so much. We had big plans with my brother being over from Sydney, with a night out planned for Friday, lunch and bowling on Saturday and more lunch on Sunday with our family. I have missed all of it. I don't know if it was this reason or the pain of the lurgey but I actually cried yesterday.  Poor old me.

Luckily I have had a very good nurse on stand by. The wig has been a much nicer nurse than I have been to him when he is ill! He bought me Lucozade, Lemsip's, Mansize tissues, a crappy magazine and a lovely letter rack for keeping post in from The Dog and Wardrobe. What a thoughtful Wig.

He also bought a huge Spidercrab from the fish shop on Broadway Market and made a delicious Crab and vegetable soup in order to try and kill my germs.

To make Spidercrab Soup:
Oven roast 1 x green pepper and 5 x vine tomatoes.
When cooked, blend and sieve to make a liquid.
Meanwhile, soften a white onion and 2 cloves of garlic in some olive oil.
Next add 3 x celery sticks in slices, a hand full of broad beans  and 1 x courgette to the pan and soften.
After a few minutes, stir in the pepper and tomato liquid and mix together adding a pinch of Smoked Paprika, Oregano and some salt and pepper.
The Wig also added some Moose Salami at this stage.
While this mixture is simmering, prepare the crab by pulling it apart, smashing it up and taking out the meat. We have done this a few times but you need to be careful to avoid any dodgy poisonous bits. Check online how to do it properly. Our crab was already cooked so by adding it to the soup it just heats it up.
(NB: if we made this again, we would just use a regular crab. Despite the fact that the crab looked stunning, there was virtually no meat in the body and taking it from the legs proved very time consuming and fiddly).
Mix the crab meat into the vegetables and heat through.
Add some fresh dill and a slice of lemon and serve with some crusty bread.

Enjoy! 

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