One of the great treats I learnt to savour more than ever when I was staying in Devon (see Food in Devon) was crab. What interesting richness! And you can do so much with it – it’s fantastic with pasta with crème fraiche and vermouth; or in a gratin with whisky and mustard; or, as I describe in this post, paired with avocado as a filling for an omelette.

Serve for lunch, or a light supper, with a fresh salad – a leaf with a fleck of red in it; and/or brown bread or toast.

If you have any coriander to hand, snip a bit of that over just before serving.

Recipe for crab and avocado omelette

For two

• 100g/4 oz crabmeat
• 6 eggs – I use Burford Browns because they give the omelette a lovely sunset orange colour
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan
• Couple of walnuts of butter
• 1 avocado
• 2 spring onions
• Pinch Urfa pepper
• Some smoked salt

1. Take everything out the fridge, ideally about half an hour before you are due to eat to get it to room temperature.
2. Beat the eggs with the parmesan and salt.
3. Put the butter in a large frying pan and heat gently until it starts to foam.
4. Peel and stone the avocado (a good avocado knife helps – go here for the best), and then slice it, and cut into chunks.
5. Pour the beaten egg into the frying pan and tip the pan this way and that to cover the surface. When it starts to solidify pull the edges gently towards the centre and allow liquid egg to get to the surface of the pan behind. (Go to this post for how to make a failsafe omelette). Only do this in a couple of places once.
6. Crumble the crab onto half the surface of the omelette, and pile the avocado on top. Snip over the spring onions.
7. Fold the omelette over, cut into two, and serve, with some Urfa pepper sprinkled over.