Soft boiled egg with smoked salmon, asparagus and caviar
Serves 6
Ingredients
30 small asparagus tips
salt and pepper
4 slices of smoked salmon
2 tablespoons double cream
2 tablespoons horseradish
4 eggs
3 tablespoons of Sevruga caviar
12 round brioche bread toasts about 1cm thick, 3-5 cm wide
Peel the asparagus and trim to 4 cm lengths. Cook in a pan of boiling salted water for about 5-7 minutes or until just tender, then immediately refresh in ice-cold water and drain well.
Cut the smoked salmon slices into 18 circles, using a cutter the same diameter as the brioche.
Whip the cream and add to the horseradish.
Cook the eggs in boiling water for 3½ minutes, then hold under running water for 10 seconds and peel while still hot. Put the eggs into a warm dish and break them up with a fork (the yokes should be runny and the whites solid) Season with a little pepper and gently fold in the caviar.
Reheat the asparagus in a pan of boiling salted water, drain and roll in a little olive oil to make them glossy.
Put a small dollop of horseradish cream in the centre of each serving plate, then a smoked salmon circle, more horseradish and then the lightly toasted brioche slice. Repeat the layers to finish with two brioches and 3 smoked salmon circles on each plate. Arrange the asparagus on top and spoon on the egg and caviar mixture.
Tunisian Grilled Vegetable Salad
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 plum tomatoes
salt and pepper
juice of 2 lemons
a pinch of saffron strands
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of harissa
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 new season onions
3 red peppers
1 large courgette
2 aubergines
coriander leaves
Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, refresh in iced water and skin. Cut them in half and chop roughly. Cook the tomato flesh in a scalding hot, non-stick pan for 2 minutes until it becomes pulpy. Add the seasoning, lemon juice, saffron, cumin seeds, harrisa and chopped garlic, then take off the heat and whisk in the olive oil.
Preheat the grill. Cut the onions in half and grill on a cast-iron griddle, leaving them slightly crunchy. Roast the peppers under a hot grill until blackened all over, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool. When cool, peel off the black skin, remove the stalk, core and seeds, cut into wide strips and set aside.
Cut the courgettes and aubergines into 6mm slices and grill on both sides. Leave to cool. Season the cold vegetables and arrange on the plate with a little of the tomato dressing in between. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Spicy fresh crab salad
with peppered tomato mousse
Serves 6
Ingredients
600g white crab meat
1 large avocado, diced
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon sesame oil
salt
tabasco sauce
200g brown crab meat, pushed through a fine sieve
watercress, to garnish
Peppered tomato mousse
3 plum tomatoes peeled, de seeded and chopped
pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon tomato purée
200ml whipping cream
1 tablespoon green peppercorns in brine, lightly crushed
Crab is my favourite seafood; I think all the work involved in picking the meat out of it makes it taste all the better. Besides which, the depth of flavour is superb, whether you are using small soft-shell crabs deep-fried in tempura batter or little velvet crabs to make soup. The cock crab is larger and therefore has more meat, but some say the female crabs are sweeter, especially the brown meat.
The best way to cook a crab is to drown it first: just submerge it in cold fresh water for 5 minutes and it will gently pass away. Then cook it in boiling salted water for 18 minutes (for a large 2kg crab). If all this together with the cracking and picking seems like too much work, buy the best quality fresh picked claw meat - not frozen or pasteurized.
Put the white crab meat in a bowl and add the avocado, spring onions, lime juice, sesame oil, salt and Tabasco. Mix gently with a fork; do not overmix as you should keep the delicate flaky texture of the crab meat. Place a spoonful of the brown meat in each serving dish, then add the white meat mixture. Top with a small quenelle of peppered tomato mousse; shape the quinelle by dipping 2 dessert spoons into hot water. Garnish with watercress.
Peppered tomato mousse
Put the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until all the moisture has evaporated and the tomatoes are thick. Leave to cool.
Add the tomato purée and pass through a fine sieve. Whip the cream until firm but not too stiff, then fold in the tomato mixture and green peppercorns. Chill in the refrigerator until firm.
