Crab, jellied eels, shrimps, winkles, whelks, tartare sauce, hot sauce, Cajun gumbo, seafood boil and lobster rolls are some of the foods I think about at the mention of seaside, which brings with it memories of looking for the restaurant or bar that sells the most exquisite, fresh and simply- prepared seafood. It might be calamari in Cadiz, sea urchins in Mġarr, lobster rolls in Maine or crab sandwiches in Falmouth.

Cooking seafood plainly does not mean serving it without any accompaniments. There are certain ingredients that go very well with a range of seafood, starting with something as obvious as bread and butter. Avocadoes, artichokes, lettuce, potatoes and tomatoes are all good with seafood, especially seafood salads.

More unusual accompaniments might also be tried, such as oriental flavourings. Try, for example, thinly sliced mango with prawns, crab or lobster. And sometimes, nothing more than melted butter makes the ideal match with freshly boiled seafood – boiling is usually the best method.

One memorable July 4 we spent on the coast of Maine with good friends who invited us to spend the holiday weekend with them.

Salmon, fresh peas and new potatoes was the traditional ‘eve of...’ dinner, and Maine lobsters were served for lunch on the 4th, with nothing more than bowls of melted butter, a basket of bread to soak up the juices, and a table, spread not with the finest linen but sheets of newspaper in classic seafood-shack style.

But unlike the seafood shack where the drink of choice will almost certainly be the local beer, our hosts treated us to a fine Alsace Riesling. It is hard to think of a better accompaniment, except for a crisp, summer-light Riesling from Germany’s Mosel valley.

Shellfish makes an excellent first course when you are entertaining. Note, however, that dealing with a crab, although not difficult, is time-consuming. Allow enough time for it, or order fresh crab meat from your fishmonger.

Too many times, during gastronomic promotions in hotels, I have put a crab recipe on my menu. It would invariably take me and a commis chef all morning to prepare crab for the lunchtime service.

The problem was compounded on one memorable occasion when I also included samphire and quail eggs to make an elegant crab salad. It takes an awful long time to pick over a box of samphire.

And while quail eggs for six is manageable, quail eggs for a hundred is a problem.

Prawn, artichoke and new potato salad

(Serves 6 to 8)

500g to 750g new potatoes
6 small artichokes, freshly cooked, or 6 artichoke hearts, or bottoms
750g prawns
5 to 6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil or mayonnaise
1 to 2 tbsps lemon juice
1 tbsp each of finely chopped chives, parsley, chervil and shallots
Gozo salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish:

Halved small yellow and cherry tomatoes and strips of roasted and peeled red and yellow peppers

Scrub, boil and drain the potatoes. Peel them if you wish, when cool enough to handle, and quarter them. Quarter the artichokes and remove the choke.

Cook the prawns in boiling salted water until just pink. When cool enough to handle, shell and devein them. Put prawns, potatoes and artichokes in a bowl, and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Spoon the salad on to a platter or individual plates. Arrange the tomatoes and pepper around the salad, and add a few nasturtium flowers if available; their colour is exactly right with the peppers and tomatoes.

If you need to refrigerate the salad, bring it to room temperature before serving.

Crab and cucumber salad with ginger dressing

(Serves 4)

For the salad:
Bunch of spring onions, peeled, trimmed and sliced diagonally
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 to 3 tbsps lime juice
Grated zest of a lime
350g white crab meat
2 cucumbers

Mix the onions, oil, juice and zest, and combine with the seafood. Peel and halve the cucumber, and discard the seeds. Thinly slice the cucumber, salt lightly, and let it drain for half an hour or so. Rinse, wring it dry in several layers of paper towels, then heap the cucumber on plates, spoon the salad on top and drizzle the dressing around it.

The salad is also very good with cold noodles, or eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves. Lobster meat or boiled prawns can replace the crab.

For the dressing:
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
½ tbsp freshly ground black
pepper
1tbsp rice or sherry vinegar
2 tbsps toasted sesame oil
4 tbsps water
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 or 2 tsps naturally fermented
soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

Mix the ginger and pepper, stir in the rest of the ingredients and put the dressing to one side while you make the salad.

Lobster traps and buoys by a cedar shake lobster house in Maine.

Crab and avocado salad in lettuce leaves

(Serves 6)

350g white crab meat
3 ripe avocadoes
Finely grated zest of a lemon
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsps chives, finely chopped
Freshly ground white pepper
Extra virgin olive oil, mayonnaise or soured cream
18 leaves of small Cos lettuce (Little Gem lettuce)
Wild fennel flowers and leaves or other greenery for decoration

Put the crab meat in a bowl. Peel and dice the avocadoes and carefully mix together with the crab, the lemon zest and juice, chives, a little pepper for seasoning and oil, mayonnaise or cream, just enough to hold it together lightly.

Then spoon some crab salad into each leaf, decorate with greenery and serve. If you use small leaves, or chicory leaves, these make very appealing snacks to hand round with drinks. Prawns or lobster can replace the crab.