Recipe: Langoustine with Wasabi, Carrot, Hazelnut and Shiso

Shiso oil

• 50g green shiso leaves from Westlands UK
• 50g spinach leaves
• 100g grape seed oil

Tapioca crisp

• 120g tapioca pearls
• 1l veg stock 
• 8g salt 
• Teaspoon wasabi powder 

Koji pickled carrots

• 8 carrots 
• 250g koji
• Rice wine vinegar 
• Sugar 
• Salt 

Wasabi sauce

• 1 banana shallot
• 1 glove garlic
• 1 thumb-sized piece of peeled ginger
• Splash of sushi vinegar
• 300g hazelnut milk 
• 200 g cream
• Fresh wasabi from Westlands UK
• 1g xantham gum

Candied hazelnuts

• 100g hazelnuts 
• 500ml stock syrup (50% water and 50% sugar)

Langoustine

1.Method – Shiso Oil

• Blanch leaves in salty water for about 20 seconds, refresh in ice water, and dry it out in a j cloth til all water is gone. Blitz in a blender until hot (3-5 mins). Cook on the hob until the mixture begins to simmer/separate. Pass through a coffee filter in a sieve in the fridge.

2. Method – Tapioca crisp

• Bring stock salt and wasabi powder to the boil, check the flavour and add more wasabi if required, add tapioca pearls and lower heat. Cook until translucent. Spread thinly on a cling film-covered sheet and dehydrate at 60 degrees for 12 hours. Break into pieces and fry at 220 degrees until they puff up. Store in an airtight container.

3. Method – Koji pickled carrots

• Peel and clean carrots, and marinate in koji in a tub or vac bag overnight. Remove from koji, and grate with microplane. Weigh and add 2% sugar and 1% salt. Sit for 8 minutes. Remove all water. For every 100g of carrot, add 75g rice vinegar and 25g sugar. And leave to infuse until ready to use, ideally overnight.

4. Method – Shiso Powder

• Dehydrate 40g of purple shiso leaves at 45 degrees for 12 hours. Blitz and pass through a sieve. Keep in an airtight container.

5. Method – Wasabi Sauce

• Sweat the shallots, ginger and garlic. Add hazelnut milk and cream. Reduce by half.
• Add 2 tablespoons of wasabi, and allow to steep for at least half an hour. Taste, check seasoning (add salt and sushi vinegar), add more wasabi if needed. Pass off. Blitz in xantham gum to give more thickness. Chill until needed.

6. Method – Candied Hazelnuts

• Cook in hazelnuts until stock syrup reaches 110 degrees. Immediately remove onto a silicone mat and then fry in oil at 160 degrees til golden, remove and season with Maldonado sea salt and cool. Store in airtight container.

7. Method – Langoustine

• Remove the head, take off the shell, remove the digestive tract, and quickly wash in cold water. Place a skewer through the tail, season, and cook in butter on medium heat on one side until about 75 % cooked. Season with lemon and salt in a pan. Rest on a warm tray to finish the cooking, and pour juice from the pan on the top.

8. Now Build the dish!

• Use a ring to help, start with carrots, add hazelnuts around, and add finely diced Granny Smith apple. Put tapioca crisp to the side.
• Garnish with fresh wasabi, rocket wasabi, purple shiso. Take about 3 tablespoons of sauce and mix with one tablespoon of oil. Pour into the centre of the circle.
• Sit langoustine on top. Finish with powder.