Serves 4
Ingredients
Langoustines
12 langoustines or new zealand scampi
Marinate
600g kyuri cucumber
500g granny smith apples
1 fresh jalapeno chilli
1 lemon
2g gelatine sheet, soaked in ice water
Cucumber & ricotta roll
150g ricotta
2 kyuri cucumber
Garnish
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1 brioche or white toast bread
12 cucumber flowers
100g fennel
Fine sea salt
Maldon sea salt
Method
Langoustines
Shell and remove the vein from each langoustine. Place a small metal needle inside to keep the tail straight. Season with fine sea salt. Using a blowtorch, sear the langoustine lightly then place the langoustine in iced water for 2 minutes. Place it on kitchen paper in the fridge. Trim both ends straight and cut the langoustine lengthwise, brush with extra virgin olive oil and reserve in the refrigerator.
Marinate
Place the green apple and cucumber in a juice machine and make a juice. Add lemon and season with salt, to taste. Warm 50ml of the cucumber and apple juice. Add the gelatin, melt it in the warm juice. Pour the mixture over the rest of the cold juice. Keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set, the liquid will take a sauce like consistency.
Kyuri cyucumber & Ricotta rolls
Season the ricotta with fine sea salt and set aside. Take the kyuri cucumber and slice in very thin shavings on a japanese mandolin. Then place the slice by 0.5cm over each other creating a small ’carpet’. Put the seasoned ricotta at the edge of the cucumber carpet and roll it like cannelloni, with a diameter of 12mm. Cut into 24 neat looking small rolls of 2cm long. Keep refrigerated and cover until needed.
Bread croutons
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius. Take the brioche or white bread and slice into 4mm thick slices, with a round cutter cut into 2cm diameter coins. Take a non stick baking tray and brush with olive oil, place the coins and brush each coin with little olive oil, important to use little oil as possible. Season with fine sea salt and place a sheet of baking paper and another tray on top. Place the tray in the oven and bake the bread coins till crispy and golden brown. Place the coins when removing from the oven on a paper towel to remove all access oil! Keep at a warm and dry space till needed
Garnish
Cut the fresh jalapeno into small dice of 2mm square, mix the chilli into the kyuri cucumber & green apple marinate and reserve this in the refrigerator. Take the fennel and remove delicately each layer of fennel shell, peel each shell of the fennel and cut in 3mm thick slices, with a round cutter cut into 2cm diameter coins. Blanch the coins very short in salted boiling water and refresh in ice water, ensure the fennel coins stay crunchy, marinate with little olive oil & lemon juice and add salt if needed, keep refrigerated.
To serve
Take four ice cold shallow bowls. Place a ladle of the ice cold cucumber apple marinate in each bowl. Sprinkle the langoustine with malden sea salt and place harmoniously in each bowl 6 ½ langoustines. Place half a kyuri cucumber and ricotta roll on each langoustine, garnish with the fennel coin and cucumber flowers. Add a crouton to each langoustine and serve immediately.
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