Butter poached crayfish with blue swimmer crab hollandaise
Method
- Bring the wine, vinegar, tarragon, bay leaf, peppercorns and thyme to the boil in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Then reduce the liquid by one-third and set aside, keeping warm.
- In another pot, bring 1 litre water to the boil and add the butter, cinnamon, cardamom, a little salt and the white pepper.
- Remove the meat from the crayfish shells and insert a skewer on each side of the individual crayfish (to keep the tails straight). Place them in the above liquid and gently poach for about 5-6 mins, adding the asparagus for the last minute or so.
- When ready, drain and cut each crayfish into 3 pieces.
- At the same time, whisk the egg yolks with the wine reduction in a double boiler over a low heat for about 2 mins. Then remove from the heat and add the clarified butter, little by little, continually whisking until thick.
- Add the crab meat and chervil with a little salt and pepper and the lemon juice. Whisk well and taste for seasoning.
- To serve, place the focaccia in the middle of individual plates, arrange the asparagus, tomatoes and crayfish on top, sprinkle the sauce over and garnish with semi-dried tomatoes and snowpea shoots.
- nb. Any combination of seafood can be used in place of the crayfish and crab.
- Daniel Jones, Warrenmang Vineyard in Moonambel, Victoria
Ingredients
- 100 ml dry white wine
- 50 ml white wine vinegar
- 2 fresh tarragon sprigs
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 black peppercorns
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 250 gm butter
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 10 cardamom pods
- sea salt
- finely ground white pepper
- 2 crayfish (lobster) tails
- 16 asparagus spears
- 5 egg yolks
- 250 gm clarified butter
- 100 gm blue swimmer crab meat
- 1 heaped tbsp chopped fresh chervil (or tarragon)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4 pieces focaccia or baguette, toasted
- a few semi-dried tomatoes
- a good handful of snowpea shoots
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