Crayfish Salad

(Serves 4 as an entrée)

Ingredients

• 4 small crayfish tails
• 4 handfuls of lettuce or a mixture of other salad greens such as mesculun mix or rocket (arugula)
• 4 spring onions (scallions)
• 2 ripe avocado pears
• 20 cherry tomatoes
• 2 lemons, juiced
• olive oil for garnishing
• sea salt
• cracked pepper
• 4 large tablespoons of Basil Mayonnaise (see recipe below)

Method

Tie two crayfish tails together with string (to prevent curling during cooking process). Repeat for each pair of tails.

Bring large pan of salted water to boil and immerse crayfish tails.

Reduce heat and simmer for approximately six minutes, enough time to just cook the tails.

Remove tails from water and plunge into cold water. When cooled, separate the tails and peel away shells.Place on covered plate in refrigerator to cool completely.

Before building the salad the tails should be cut crossways into chunky slices (about 1cm thick)

Immerse tomatoes in boiling water to facilitate removal of skins.

Wash and dry salad greens and break up into serving sized pieces. Toss with some fresh lemon juice and a little Maldon sea salt.

Strip outer leaves from spring onions and slice.

Peel and remove stones from the avocado pears. Rub with lemon to prevent discoloration if there is to be a time lapse until serving time.

To construct salad:

Place a food mould onto the middle of a serving plate. Stack ingredients in the following order: Lettuce, spring onions, avocado slices and finally the crayfish slices. Carefully remove mould leaving a "salad stack". Put a dollop of Basil Mayonnaise on top of the salad and place about 5 of the cherry tomatoes around the base of the stack. Drizzle plate with a little olive oil.

Basil Mayonnaise

(for cold lobster)

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• 3 egg yolks
• 500 mls grape seed oil
• About 10 large leaves of fresh basil

Whisk the vinegar, mustard, salt & pepper in a bowl until the salt has dissolved. Add the egg yolks and whisk briefly. Whisk in the oil, very slowly at first, almost drop by drop for a start. As the mayonnaise starts to build up, you can add the oil slightly faster but always be sure to incorporate each addition fully before adding more. Continue until you have blended in all the oil and the mayonnaise is thick and creamy.

Finely slice the basil leaves and fold into the mayonnaise not more than an hour before serving.

 John Hawkesby’s Wine Suggestions

Riesling

• Gladstone 2006
• Camshorn Classic 2007

Champagne

• Nautilus Cuvee Marlborough

Chardonnay

• Cable Bay 2006