Apple Crumble with Grand Marnier and Brandy
(served with rum and raisin ice cream)

Forgive me culinary father for I have sinned. It is Shrove Tuesday and against tradition, my dad and I made apple crumble instead of pancakes. But it was outrageously divine!?

My dad said that there are four ingredients that can propel any dish to the next level. Namely -  butter, truffles, cheese and alcohol. It was alcohol, that made this staple desert so good. This was evidenced by all my aunties having a second helping (I am slightly upset that there is none left now).

   

We sliced roughly ten medium sized royal gala apples (my favourite) into quarters. This variety is naturally sweet. Mama Wong made some apple sauce a while back using my aunt's home-grown apples. The apple sauce was also added to the sliced apples segments.

Add small whole chunks of cinnamon to the apples. I crushed a little bit of one chunk so we could sprinkle them into the mixture. This should maximise the flavour.

Put the apples into a saucepan and cook over medium heat for roughly 10 minutes (or until you reach the desired consistency). Add brown sugar, grand marnier and brandy. Turn down the heat slightly to let the apples absorb the alcohol and sugar.

Normal brandy is fine. We didn't have any so we added XO (hehe)

 

While the apples are simmering away, take slices of bread and blend in a food processor to make crumbs. Add two tablespoons of melted butter and two tablespoons of brown sugar. Blend again. It is better if the bread is a little dry (i.e. stale bread) as this will ensure the crumble will be nice and crispy. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Transfer the hot apple mixture into an oven-proof dish. Once cool, pour the bread crumbs on top. Place in the oven for roughly 20 minutes (or until the the top becomes nice and brown). Serve with ice cream, we used rum and raisin ... seeing as we didn't have enough alcohol already ;)

BEFORE 

AFTER

Cooking the Crab

Brown edible crab is delicious. Very meaty and sweet, Mama Wong and I cooked these tasty crustaceans this evening. We pre-ordered the crabs from a restaurant in Chinatown, then dad and I went to collect them. 

Before preparing the crab, peel and chop two small onions into quarters. Fill a large pot (big enough to fit your crabs completely) with water, salt and add the onions with a few bay leaves. The onions and the bay leaves will reduce any 'fishy' crab smell and also provide flavour for a soup base. Mama Wong indicated she will be making 'Bún riêu' (a yummy Vietnamese crab noodle soup) and the base will be perfect for that!

Quickly and firmly, kill the crab by piercing it through the abdomen with a sharp knife. Killing the crab prevents it from releasing unwanted fluids into your boiling water (which you may want to use later for soup). Drain the released liquids. Some remove the crab 'tail' but we didn't here. If you do, you will lose some of the precious dark meat into the water. If you're not removing the tail, you must carefully press along the small duct under the tail to remove the feces.

Next, we clean the crab. We like to use those airline toothbrushes as it can get to those hard-to-reach places. Be thorough. There is usually a lot of mud and sand stuck between the legs and on the the bottom of the carapace. Plunge the crab in a tub of cold water a few times to help remove the dirt.

Once clean, place the crabs into the boiling water. Once the water begins bubbling again, cover and leave for 15-20 minutes. If your crabs are smaller, then roughly 15 minutes is fine. If your crabs were massive like ours, then 22 minutes is fine.

Before the crab is ready, you will notice small fleshy parts in your water. It looks a lot like egg white. This is just the meat that has escaped the shell. You can extract this and place it into a bowl. We can use this later for the 'Bún riêu' dish.