CRAB SALAD WITH AVOCADO CREAM

Ingredients

Crab salad

·         4 crabs, live

·         3 tbsp of crème fraîche

·         2 tbsp of lemon juice

·         2 tbsp of finely chopped mint

·         2 tbsp of finely chopped tarragon

·         2 carrots, finely sliced

·         2 turnips, finely diced

·         salt

·         pepper

Avocado cream

·         2 avocados, large

·         2 tbsp of crème fraîche

·         2 lemons, juiced

·         salt

·         pepper

Lemongrass vinaigrette

·         1 lemon grass stalk, heart only

·         125ml of olive oil

·         1 lemon, zest and juice

·         2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

·         1 tbsp of chilly sauce

·         1 garlic clove, minced

·         1/2 tsp of  Dijon Mustard

·         salt

·         pepper

To plate

·         4 tomatoes, quartered

·         2 pink grapefruit, segmented

·         1 handful of mint leaves

·         4 sprigs of chervil

·         1 handful of watercress, sprigs only

·         For the vinaigrette, finely chop the lemongrass and place into a pot with the oil. Fry until the lemongrass starts to sizzle.

·         Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 30minutes - 1 hour before straining the oil into a bowl and discarding the lemongrass.

·         Combine the infused oil with the remaining ingredients, whisk and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

·         For the avocado cream, blend the avocado flesh with the crème fraîche and half the lemon juice until smooth.

·         Season well and pour the remaining lemon juice on top. Chill until ready to serve.

To make the salad, marinate the carrots and turnips in the lemongrass vinaigrette for 10 minutes.

·         Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the crabs and cook for 6 minutes.

·         Plunge into cold water for another 5 minutes before removing the flesh. Mix with crème fraîche, lemon juice, chilli and herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

·         Serve onto plates with the marinated vegetables, tomato quarters and pink grapefruit segments. Pour over the avocado cream and garnish with mint leaves, chervil and watercress.

SCALLOPS, PEA PURÉE AND CUMIN FOAM

Ingredients

scallops

6 scallops

1 tbsp of olive oil

10g of butter

1/2  lemon

salt

black pepper

Pea purée

20g of shallots, very finely diced

1 tbsp of oil

400g of frozen garden peas

4g of salt

200ml of milk

Cumin foam

55g of crème fraîche( Sour cream)

110ml of Fish stock

2.5g of cumin seeds

2g of salt

2.5g of lecithin

Method

·         To make the pea purée, sweat the shallots in the oil until soft but not coloured. Add the garden peas salt and milk and simmer for 8 minutes.

·         Drain off the milk into a jug and pour the peas into a blender. Blitz for 2 minutes until ultra smooth adding enough of the milk to make a thickish purée. After blending, cool as quickly as possible as the colour will begin to fade fairly quickly.

·         Heat a non stick pan over a medium flame. When the pan is hot, pour in a spoon of olive oil, add the scallops and cook until golden on one side. After approximately 2 minutes turn over, add a knob of butter, season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Transfer to a plate along with the cooking juices.

·         To make the cumin foam, combine the ingredients and blitz in a blender for 1 minute. Gently heat to approximately 40°C and no higher than 50°C.

·         Using a hand blender fitted with an aerator, foam up the mix then let it rest for a minute.

·         Spoon some pea purée into the centre of the bowl. Add a cooked scallop and some pea shoots around the edge. Spoon the foam around to finish and serve immediately.