Superior soup

Well that’s the first banana finished in other words Wednesday, or at least the working Wednesday is out of the way. This morning, as is quite often the case I was looking forward to the drive down ‘Calum’s road’ to work, the weather was good, the forecast great and at least I would not be tempted to start moving rocks or cutting bedding, thus giving my arm another weeks rest.

As I appear to be the only person in our household with a fondness for velvet crabs I loaded the dozen or so we’d caught yesterday into the Land Rover along with my bananas, olives, salami, beans and tuna before heading south with my water bowser in tow. Having as usual checked UKWind and found that no rain was forecast until Friday I planned a mammoth painting session on the port casing.  We had an extra man on board this week for training so that would free me up for some much needed maintainance and soup making

Velvet crab and sweetcorn soup

After setting about the port accommodation and funnel casing with a 200bar pressure washer, ‘turbo nozzle’ and turning the car deck into patchwork of white paint flakes I went into the mess room for a wee snack. The banana and muesli only keeps me going for so long before I have to ‘top up’ with some toast or a bacon sandwich.

Far too good to waste

This particular morning however I went for the seafood option and gnawed away at half a dozen velvets that I’d cooked whilst the ferry was warming up. As I’d been eating these ‘on the hoof’ so to speak I’d not made a very thorough job of picking them leaving lots of lovely white meat in the tricky wee corners of the shell and body. Normally I’d get loads of pleasure and while away much time picking at these but that’s around the dinner table and not at work. It seemed a shame to dump all this fine food so I decided to turn it into soup.

Camilli’s crab and sweetcorn soup is unlikely to ever be repeated, not because it was rubbish, on the contrary it was awesome, it’s just that I never measure anything and I’m unlikely to ever have all these ingredients in the same place at the same time.

Camilli crab soup

First smash up 6 velvet crabs into a pan, then when the ramp of the ferry is down dip the pan in the sea and half fill with sea water. If your not on a ferry, by the sea or your somewhere up the Clyde or Mersey then just use fresh water and plenty of salt

Boil for around an hour whilst your removing paint flakes off the car deck.

Heat up a large saucepan with some oil in the bottom out of a jar of Lidl’s ‘chili olives’, when that’s good and hot throw in some chopped garlic, sliced leeks and crushed ginger. Then send your mate up to his caravan for a glass of white wine to tip into the saucepan ( only do this if your mate is taking the cargo van up there anyway ) DO NOT DRINK THE WINE and do not let anyone see you

Master at work!

Once the imaginary wine is tipped into the pan then strain the crab stock into it, crush some peppercorns, add two bay leaves, half a chicken stock cube, a few noodles and a chopped red pepper. Leave it simmering until lunchtime then serve with home made bread and another whole velvet crab.

Rick Stein eat your heart out!

The rest of the day was pretty quiet with only the recycling bin lorry, mobile library and mobile sheep sheerer’s adding to the routine traffic.

Malcolm White 01478 612650

Of course I could be wrong!

Atlas Marine tug Hermes

I thought they’d gone bust on the 9th of July!

That was about it really, a few yachts passed by as did a few heavy showers, the catamaran Silvermine sped south and I loaded up another 600 lts of ‘ Scottish Water’ for my dwindling supply.

Silvermine

On the way home, around 3 miles from anywhere and 7 miles from the village I met two people who were looking for a lift to Inverarish, unfortunately I was going ther wrong way and the likelyhood of anyone else heading south at that time of night was slim. As they’d been walking for several hours unprepared without food I offered them some pork curry and a naan but they declined. OK it was cold but that would not have stopped me from eating it after 6 hours without food

And now I’m off to bed!