Ravioles de homard et St Jacques
Pan-fried lobster & scallop ravioli
This is my take on dim sum and uses a different sort of pasta dough to the normal kind. You can make the ravioli any shape you like, but they must contain the filling effectively and be well sealed, as they are fried briefly before serving.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Pasta dough
250g plain white flour
75g free-range egg whites
50g warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
Filling
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
2 sprigs of marjoram
120ml dry white wine
6 sundried tomotoes (not in oil) chopped
500ml lobster stock
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
salt
black pepper
Garnish
tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and diced
marjoram leaves
First make the pasta dough. Put the flour in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and knead to make an elastic, but not sticky dough. Leave the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 20 mins, then roll it out on the '0' setting on the pasta machine.
Chop the scallops into 3mm dice. Break up the lobster, cutting the tail into quarters for the garnish. Extract all the rest of the lobster meat and cut into 5mm dice, then mix with the diced scallops and season with salt and a generous amount of pepper.
The shape of the ravioli is up to you, but the simplest method is to cut the pasta dough into 24 circles of about 6cm in diameter. Divide the the scallop and lobster filling between 12 of the circles. Brush the borders with water to moisten, then top with the remaining circles and press down well around the edges to seal.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the ravioli and cook for 4 minutes. Remove the ravioli and plunge them into ice cold water to stop them cooking, then carefully drain and dry on a cloth and lightly drizzle them with olive oil. Keep the ravioli refrigerated until needed.
For the sauce, put the shallots, garlic and marjoram in a pan with the white wine and boil until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Add the sundried tomatoes and lobster stock, then bring them to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Press the sauce through a fine sieve, then pour it back into the pan, season and finish with the cold butter to thicken and shine. Keep the sauce warm while you finish the ravioli.
Pan-fry the ravioli in a hot non-stick pan until golden on both sides and hot inside. Serve in warm bowls with the piping hot sauce and garnish with diced tomatoes and lobster claws and a few marjoram 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.
Rabbit terrine cooked in Chablis
with grain mustard
Serves 8
Ingredients
1 rabbit (domestic, not wild, about 1.5gk)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrot diced
1 onion diced
100g smoked bacon, diced
400ml Chablis wine
1/2 calf's foot. split in two
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of thyme
1 litre of chicken stock
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons grain mustard
Generous amount of flat parsley
tarragon and chervil, roughly chopped.
Prepare the rabbit by removing the heart & lungs, but if you like the liver and kidneys, you can leave them in to cook with the rabbit.
Heat the oil in a large casserole and seal the rabbit on all sides. Add the carrot, onion and bacon and cook over medium heat until lightly coloured. Add the wine and boil for 1 minute, then add the calf's foot, bay leaves, thyme and stock. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and cook in a very low oven at 120°C/250°C/gas for 1½ hours.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool. When hand hot, pick all the meat off the bones and shred between your fingers into a bowl.
Pass the cooking liquid through a colander into a saucepan. Return the carrot and onion to the meat. Boil the cooking liquid and skim thoroughly to remove as much fat and scum as possible; reduce by one - third and pour on to the meat. Stir in the mustard and herbs, check for seasoning and then poor into a porcelain terrine, refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
Serve with toasted sourdough bread, and a little salad of chives, chervil, tarragon, watercress, wild rocket and dandelion dressed in red wine vinegar and a rich olive oil.
