WITH it's wonderful flavour and texture, crab really is one of life's delicacies, up there with lobster as one of the quintessential foods for romance, indulgence and celebrations. But, compared to lobster, crab is not so expensive, costing sometimes half or one-third of the price.

There is a bit of work involved removing the meat from the shell, explaining its mid to high price in restaurants. So now that crabs are in season (and will be for the rest of the year) this is the time to buy them from your fishmongers, alive if possible, and prepare for a feast.

The advantage of buying whole fresh crabs is, as well as the price, that you will get the body (or the carapace) and the claws. The white meat is in the claws, which has the wonderful texture, but in the body you will find the soft brown meat and this is where the serious flavour is.

And the common crab is also abundant in our seas, unlike the cod.

Crab is incredibly versatile, delicious in a salad or mixed with mayonnaise on toast, in a risotto with pasta or rice noodles, in a soup or bisque or made into spicy crab cakes, like the recipe here. The meat freezes well so if you can get lots of crabs cook them all at once while they are fresh, remove all the meat, use some today and freeze the rest for another day.

The best crabs will come straight from the sea (they start to lose weight and flavour if kept in tanks) and should be cooked while still alive. This may seem a nerve-wracking task but handled properly it is no problem. There will usually be bands around their claws, put on by the fisherman, so keep these on until cooked.

For best practice, the RSPCA recommends two hours in the freezer before cooking. After freezing, place in a saucepan, cover with water, add some salt (about one tablespoon for every litre of water) and bring to the boil. Boil for about 10 minutes then pour off two-thirds of the water and continue to cook the crab, with lid on, for about another six minutes. This works well for a medium to large crab, with a body about 15-20cm wide; if the crab is small cook for about 10 minutes altogether. Take out, place the body with the smooth side of the shell facing up, place on a rack over a dish and allow to cool. A little liquid may drain from it while cooling. You know the crab is cooked by giving the body a little shake when it comes out of the water - if it sounds like there's a lot of liquid inside the body, cook it for another few minutes.

To extract the white meat, remove the large claws from the body, crack the shells (using a heavy weight or nutcracker) and extract every bit of meat using the handle of a teaspoon or lobster pick, discarding all of the shell. Turn the body of the crab upside down and pull out the centre portion. Remove and discard the 'dead man's fingers' (the gills) and the tiny 'sac' by the eyes. Scoop out all the brown meat and add it to the white meat.

CRAB, WATERCRESS & AVOCADO SALAD 200g cooked crab meat 1 tbsp dijon mustard 1-2 tbsp mayonnaise 2 tbsp chopped watercress 1 tbsp sliced or torn basil 1 ripe avocado, peeled, stoned and diced Salt and pepper Mix the ingredients together and season to taste. Place on a lettuce leaf on a plate to serve for a starter or, as a light main course, enjoy with green salad and bread.

CRAB AND COCONUT PRAWN SOUP Serves 2-4 2 tbsp sunflower oil 2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced Half tsp grated ginger 1 tsp lemongrass, finely chopped 200g cooked crab meat 500ml fish or light chicken stock 1 small tin (165g) coconut milk 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce 50g raw prawns, peeled 2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced juice of half a lemon quarter red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander or basil Salt and pepper In a saucepan on medium heat, heat the oil then add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and crabmeat. Toss on the heat for a few minutes until light golden. Add the stock, coconut milk and fish sauce. Bring to the boil. Add the prawns, simmering all the time. Cook for one or two minutes till the prawns are just cooked. Add the spring onions, lemon juice, chilli and coriander or basil. Season to taste and serve.

SPICY CRAB CAKES WITH THAI DIPPING SAUCE Makes 50 mini crab cakes or 12 bigger ones 110g butter 4 tbsp white wine 4 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely grated 450g cooked crab meat 200g white breadcrumbs 1 egg, whisked 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 3 tbsp chopped coriander 6 spring onions, chopped 1 tbsp Worcestire sauce half tbsp Tabasco sauce (or one deseeded and chopped chilli) half tbsp soy sauce Melt the butter in a pan with the wine and garlic, add the crab meat and cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally.

Season with salt and pepper. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl, then add the crab meat and all the juices from the pan.

Shape into patties, or little balls for mini ones, and pan fry in some olive oil until golden. Serve with Thai dipping sauce.

THAI DIPPING SAUCE This is a great sauce to use with grilled or deep fried fish, meat or spring rolls.

100ml Thai fish sauce, nam pla (widely available) 100ml freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice 75g caster sugar 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely grated 3-6 fresh, hot red or green chillies, sliced into fine rounds (deseed the chilli if you wish) Combine the fish sauce with lime or lemon juice, sugar, garlic and sliced chillies in a jar or bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar.

CRAB & BASIL TART WITH TOMATO SALAD Serves 6 This also works with coriander instead of basil, chopped red chilli and grated ginger.

For the shortcrust pastry 1 x 28cm tart tin with a removeable base 250g plain flour pinch of salt 125g butter, diced half to 1 egg, beaten For the tart filling 300g cooked crab meat (2 medium-sized crabs) 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk 300ml cream 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp chopped basil Salt and pepper 50g grated parmesan For the tomato salad 2-3 large ripe tomatoes, cut into 2-3cm chunks 1 spring onion, chopped, or 1 tbsp chopped red onion 1 tbsp chopped basil or mint Salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar 1 dessertspoon (approx) lime or lemon juice Shortcrust pastry In a food processor place the flour, salt and butter. Blend for a few seconds then add half the beaten egg and continue to blend. You might want to add a little more egg but don't add too much - it should just come together. (If making this by hand, rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, then with your hands bring it together with the egg). With your hands, flatten out the ball of dough till it is about 3cm thick, wrap or cover and place in the fridge for at least half an hour. Preheat the oven to 180�C.

To roll, take out of the fridge and place the pastry between two sheets (bigger than your tart tin) of cling film. Using a rolling pin roll it out until no thicker than a quarter cm thick, or even thinner for small tins. Make sure to keep it round, if the tin is round, and large enough to line the base and sides of the tin. Removing just the top layer of cling film, place the pastry upsidedown (cling film side facing up) in the clean tart tin. Press the pastry into the edges, cling film still attached, and using your thumb 'cut' the pastry on the edge of the tin. At this stage it should look quite neat. Remove the cling film and chill the pastry in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

Bake blind by lining the pastry with greaseproof/parchment paper when chilled (leaving plenty to come up the sides), fill with baking beans or dried pulses (you can use these over and over) and bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven (180�C/375�F) until the pastry feels dry to the touch. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little left over beaten egg and return to the oven for two minutes. If there are any little holes or cracks in the pastry patch it up with any left over raw pastry. Remove from the oven, leave the oven on and set the pastry aside in the tin while you make the filling .

Tart filling Whisk the eggs and yolk. Add the rest of the filling ingredients, except the parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour into the baked pastry, sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 40 minutes, until it feels firm to the touch in the centre.

Tomato salad Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.