Curried lobster, chile poached lychee, soused green bananas, watercress sauce and leaves
Enjoy this recipe courtesy of Louis Robinson, Executive Chef / Owner of Spice Florida and First Place Winner of the Chef’s Roll Guac n’ Roll contest sponsored by Avocados from Mexico.
Recipe: Makes two servings
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Lobster tails, cut lengthwise into thirds
- 3 Green bananas
- 6 Lychees
- 3-5 Puya chiles (depending on size)
- 2 Cups water
- 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar + an extra splash
- 1 Tbs sugar
- 1 Large bunch of watercress
- 1/2 Cup Mexican crema
- 1/2 Red onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 English cucumber, finely chopped
- 1 Big pinch of cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/4 Habanero chile without seeds, finely chopped
- Juice of 3 limes
- 1 Tbs light agave syrup
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs Jamaican curry powder
- 2 Tbs unsalted goat butter
- 1 Tbs canola oil
- 1 Tbs salt + salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
- Begin by removing the seeds from your puya chiles and toast them lightly in a dry skillet. Combine the chiles, water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a blender. Blend on high until super smooth and strain into a small pot. Remove the seeds from your lychees and place them in the pot with the chile liquid, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- Bring a pot of water to boil with a splash of apple cider vinegar added. Boil your bananas, skin on, until soft. Remove the bananas and allow to cool. Peel and cut on a bias into one inch pieces and combine in a bowl with the onion, cilantro, cucumber, habanero, lime juice, agave, salt to taste and a splash of water. Allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes. This component as well as the lychees can be done the day before if desired.
- To make your sauce, blanch the whole bunch of watercress for one minute in the same pot of water the bananas were boiled in, but first reserve some of the prettiest leaves for garnish later. Remove from the boiling water and place in an ice bath until completely chilled. Remove the watercress from the ice bath, shake dry, and place in a blender. Add the crema, olive oil and salt to taste. Blend on high until smooth.
- For the lobster, salt the tails to taste and sprinkle with the curry powder. Rub the tails well until they are completely coated with the curry. Heat a skillet on high heat, add the canola oil. Flash sear the pieces of lobster tail in the pan, turning often for 1 minute. Add the goat butter and baste the lobster tail pieces for another minute or two or until cooked but still tender.
- To plate, start by placing 3 of the poached lychees in the center of the plate. Next, using a squeeze bottle, make three dots of your sauce, equally spaced around your lychees.. Using the tip of the squeeze bottle, pull the dots outward in a circular motion to make a teardrop shape. Place your lobster tail prices in between the sauce teardrops, being sure to pat dry if there is a lot of extra butter on them ( if there is too much, the butter will run into your sauce and look unappealing). Next, fill in the space inside your sauce with the soused banana pieces. Place a little of the marinated onion and cucumbers from the bowl on top of each banana. Garnish the plate with the reserved watercress leaves.
- This dish can be served hot, room temp or chilled.
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