Lidt mere snydesommer i munden

Det er stadig lidt varmt – hvis man vel at mærke, rammer et hjørne kun med sol, uden blæst. Derfor snyder jeg mig lige til en anelse mere sommer i munden! Der findes næsten ikke noget mere sommerligt læskende, kølende og mættende på den der virkeligt rare måde, end en gazpacho.

En heldig hummer fra London

Og så blev det tid til den første gæst på Louilicious.com! “Oh my!” tænker du sikkert. Grunden til gæstehistorien er, at min ven Keyan er en aldeles fremragende fritidskok og at vi i længere tid har snakket om, at han skulle smide en historie på. Så nu sker det!

Byd denne herligt heldige hummer fra London hjerteligt velkommen!

Sous vide lobster with pomegranate gel, fennel, broad beans, flowers and avocado

This is the ultimate dinner party starter and is guaranteed to get your guests talking around the table.  I designed this dish to show off the fantastic Canadian lobsters we get from Billingsgate Market here in London.  Edible flowers, although not often easy to find at food markets, are now widely available online to purchase as seeds or boxed.  We are lucky enough to have a supplier that grows to order and here I have used various flowers, young shoots and micro herbs designed to accompany fish.

Before assembling, I like to leave the plates of gel out on the dining table for when guests arrive so they can admire the colour – it also gets their imaginations going as they have no idea what it is or how to eat it!

 

Ingredients (for two)

1 lobster, approximately a kilo in weight

2 fennel bulbs

4 lemons

A dozen broad beans, frozen is fine

1 teaspoon of fennel pollen

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 litre of light fresh fish stock (here I have used homemade stock from turbot bones and trimmings)

Edible flowers, young shoots and micro herbs

A spring of thyme

2 bay leaves

100 grams of butter

For the mousse:

2 avocado

The juice of 1 lemon

A small pot of double cream

For the gel:

The juice and seeds of two pomegranates

1/2 a large tomato

Half a glass of apple juice

2 teaspoon of agar agar flakes

Method

 

Begin by making the gel.  In a saucepan, add the juice and seeds of 2 pomegranates together with the apple juice and tomato, sliced thinly.  Bring to the boil, adding water to thin out the sauce if required.  Add 2 teaspoons of agar agar and remove the pan from the heat, whisking thoroughly to dissolve the flakes.  Pass the sauce through a fine sieve or chinois strainer then pour a thin layer on to two dinner plates.  Decorate with the pomegranate seeds whilst the sauce is still warm and allow to cool at room temperature.  Within 10 minutes, the agar agar flakes will have worked their magic and the sauce will have set into a gel.  Transfer to a fridge to keep cool.

Once the live lobster has chilled in a freezer for 15 minutes, put a sharp knife through the head to kill it humanely.  Separate the claws from the body and twist the tail off.  As the lobster has not been boiled alive, the claws, tail and body will continue to wriggle of their own accord for up to 10 minutes, which is due to the lobster’s nervous system.  During this time, stop the tail from curling by placing a weight, such as a saucepan, on top of the shell.

In a large pan of boiling salted water, poach the claws, head and legs for 8 minutes.   Once poached, transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool then remove the meat from the claws and set aside.

 

Remove the outer layers, tips and root of both fennel bulbs and slice finely on a mandolin slicer (approximately 2mm).  In a large bowl, mix together the juice and zest of a lemon with half a teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the fennel, cover and allow to macerate at room temperature for 15 minutes.  Once macerated to mellow the aniseed flavour of the fennel, pat dry and refrigerate.

Pre-heat your water bath to 55.5 degrees centigrade.  Vacuum pack the raw lobster tail in a cryo bag with 50 grams of butter, the bay leaves and thyme, a sprinkle of coarse sea salt and the cayenne pepper.  Add the bag to the water bath and poach for 20 minutes.  Once poached, remove the tail from the bag, being careful to retain the juices that have built up during the poaching process.  The lobster tail will still be blue and appear raw from the outside, however the meat within the tail will be almost cooked through and tender.  If you do not have a sous vide or cryobag vacuum, heat a pan of water on the hob to 55 degrees, checking the temperature with a meat thermometer.  Position the pan at the edge of the hob to keep the temperature at 55 degrees throughout the cooking process.  Have ice cubes to hand in the event that the water heats above 55 degrees.  Replace the cryobag with tightly wrapped cling film and poach for 20 minutes.

Whilst the lobster tail poaches in the water bath, poach the shelled broad beans in the fish stock until just cooked, then transfer to a bowl of ice water with the juice, zest and pulp of 1 lemon to stop the beans oxidising and losing their colour.  Once cooled, cut half of the beans length ways and leave half intact.

For the mousse, add the flesh of both avocados, the juice of 1 lemon and the pot of cream to a blender and blend into a thick mousse.  Once blended, load the mixture into a mousse siphon and cool in the fridge.

Heat a cast iron skillet and add the juices from the cryobag, together with the remaining 50 grams of butter.  Remove the poached tail meat from its shell by cutting through the underside with scissors and add to the pan.  Take the pan off the heat and baste the tail in the butter for 30 seconds until it is thoroughly cooked through.  Remove and allow to rest, cooling to just above room temperature.

Plate the dish, piling the macerated fennel in the centre of the pomegranate gel, topping with lobster claw meat and a scattering of broad beans.  Add slices of the poached tail meat, decorate with the edible flowers and add a generous dollop of the avocado mousse.  Decorate with pomegranate seeds, a sprinkle of fennel pollen and season to taste.

 

Enjoy!

Revenge of the squid (part2)

Første gang de lavede ballade var her. Nu har de små snedige ‘sprutte-basser sneget sig på banen igen! Denne gang løb de op på en dejlig varm pande med hvidløg, chili og citron zest. Stege stege og så citron juice på. Op på smør ristet rugbrød med en kvast avokado. Namme nam for en lækker appetiser!

Lille, men luksuriøst lurvet

Jeg må i sandhed bøje hovedet i enorm skam og erkende, at det er 11 dage siden jeg har lavet det mindste. Jeg har været et helt andet sted mentalt end i mit kærlige køkken, fordi min veninde blev kørt ned forleden, mens vi cyklede sammen ude på Bryggen. Det har taget noget tid at bearbejde, og så i dag inviterede den yngre af de to storebrødre mig ud til morgenmad. Og der gik “startskuddet”! Jeg fik blod på tanden igen, blod på tanden til at anmelde det her lille, luksuriøst lurvede Vesterbro sted.

De bor på hjørnet af Valdemarsgade og Sdr. Blvd og har stedet fyldt med gevirer fra det ene og det andet dyr. Jeps, det er nemlig Dyrehaven vi snakker om. Det var engang – som så mange andre Vesterbro steder – et værtshus, der hvor Lis og Hans-Jørgen kom og drak deres daglige gyldne damer. Nu er Lis og Hans-Jørgen skiftet ud af de kreative hoveder fra Vesterbro. Stedet er dejlig uprætentiøst med en helt og aldeles nede-på-jorden atmosfære. Stemningen sættes herligt afslappet af bløde reggae toner og den morgentrætte tjener, der slumrer rundt i sine basket-shorts. De kreative Vesterbro hoveder, sidder spredt rundt mellem gevirerne med hver deres computer og arbejder.

Min bror og jeg bestiller begge en Morgenmad III, der består af et blødkogt æg, en avokadomad og en ostemad. Ægget er kogt helt perfekt – intet klamt hvidt snalderværk og ingen hård blomme. Der kom purløg, salt og ristet rugbrød til ægget. Ostemaden var standard, men dog havde osten lidt mere smag end en triviel mellemlagret skæreost. Den kom på en ordentlig humpel ristet rugbrød. Avokadoen kom på samme tykke ristede rugbrød som osten. Den var prydet med dadeltomater, radiser, purløg og friskkværnet peber. Smagen var god, men den kunne dog godt have brugt lidt mere syre, fx i form af et lag grovkornet sennep.

Jeg har været på Dyrehaven mange gange, men aldrig spist morgenmad der. Det var virkelig godt og det er så afgjort ikke sidste gang jeg spiser min morgenmad der! Stedet bør måske overveje at anskaffe sig nogle lidt mere praktiske æggebægre. Vores æg blev serveret i sådan nogle metal kopper børnehavebørn drikker saftevand af. Så det og det med avokadoen og den manglende sennep må være de eneste ting jeg kan sætte fingeren på. Slå et smut forbi dem og prøv deres morgenmad!