Potted Crayfish with Nutmeg & Sage Butter

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and add the cayenne pepper, nutmeg and sage. Ideally, leave this to infuse the flavours for an hour or so. Add the cooked crayfish meat to the pan stir and gently warm through on a low heat, season to taste.

Using a large slotted spoon, remove the crayfish and press them into your 4 ramekins (or a serving dish of your choice). Then pour the leftover melted butter from the saucepan over the crayfish to cover. Either serve immediately or pop in the fridge to set.

You can serve your potted crayfish cool, room temperature or warmed up. Each has its own merits. Cool, on hot toast, is my favourite because the heat of the toast melts the butter. I prefer to take them from the fridge and leave them out on the counter for an hour then toast the bread at the last minute, so the cooler crayfish/butter mix melts fast and you don’t end up with cold toast!

Potted crayfish are better the day after they're made, so if you want to do that, pack them into ramekins (or a jar), pour the warm, seasoned butter over them and refrigerate. If the butter doesn't cover the crayfish, that’s fine, as long as you eat them all in a day or so. If you want to store them for up to a month, you need to make sure the crayfish are totally covered by the butter.