A TASTE OF THE SEA
Some delicious recipes from Paul Webbe of Webbes Restaurant
Poached Native Lobster with Shellfish, Tomato Basil Sauce
Serves 2
• Two Native Lobsters 450 ‑500g each
• 150 mls Lobster Stock
• 250 grams Unsalted Butter
• Basil
• 25ml Water
• Linguini
• Summer Vegetables, Peas, Spring Onion,
• Courgette, Asparagus, Broad Beans
Method
Boil a large pan of water, place lobsters and cook for 12 – 13 minutes, once cooked refresh in cold water, remove all meat carefully. Do not wash lobster after the meat is extracted.
Lobster Stock
• 2 lobster carcasses
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stick of Celery, diced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 4 tbsp Brandy optional
• 600mls fish stock
• parsley, Bay Leaf, Thyme
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas 5.
Clean the lobster carcasses. Smash the shells. Put them in a roasting pan and roast for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer the carcasses to a stockpot or large saucepan. Add the oil and warm over medium heat. Add the diced onion, carrot and celery, and sweat for a minute or so. Add the flour.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the brandy.
Pour in the fish stock and bring to a simmer. Add the herbs. Cook for 1 hour.
Pour the stock through a fine sieve. Discard the debris.
Poach Lobster
To reheat the lobster it is warmed in a butter emulsion.
Cut butter into 1cm squares, in a separate pan warm 25mls water and whisk in butter a little at a time. Warm this emulsion not exceeding 55 Celsius, Place Lobster meat into this until warmed through. Do not allow this to get too hot or the Lobster will become firm.
Lobster Basil Sauce
Warm 150mls Lobster Stock and whisk 4 tablespoons of the butter emulsion, add chopped basil leaves and remove from heat, season.
Warm the linguini and Summer green vegetables, assemble into a neat pile. Place the Lobster meat on this and then drizzle with your Lobster Basil Sauce
Fish Broth
Serves 8 • 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 8 tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 100ml olive oil
• 1kg fish bones
• 2 litres of boiling water
• 1 pinch of saffron
• 500g shell fish, crab, mussels, prawns
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1kg of firm fleshed fish monk fish, sea bass, grey mullet, gurnard, huss
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions, leeks, chopped tomatoes and garlic. Sweat over a low heat for 2 to 3 minutes until soft stirring from time to time.
Stir in the fennel. thyme, bay leaf. Add the fish bones, boiling water and some salt and pepper. Turn up the heat and simmer for about 50 minutes.
Purée with Stick Blender and pass though a fine sieve. Check seasoning and add saffron.
Place back onto heat, once warm add the fish and gently poach for five minutes over a medium heat. The fish should tender but still firm. Do not stir or allow to Boil.
To serve: Put the fish broth in bowls making sure you can see plenty of fish, Butter beans or saffron cooked new potatoes may be added.
Carpaccio Sea Trout with lime Dressing, Pear and Wakame
Serves 4
• 200grs fresh thin sliced Salmon/Sea Trout
• Caviar/lumpfish roe
• 1 ripe pear 1 cm dice
• Baby celery
• 5g Wakame seaweed soaked in water
• Lime dressing
• Lime foam
• Salt
• Pepper
Lime Dressing
• I tsp lime zest
• 10 ml fresh lime juice
• 25 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 25 ml grape seed oil
• Salt & Black Pepper
For the citrus dressing, zest a lime and place all ingredients in a bowl. Add virgin olive oil and whisk thoroughly and season with salt & black pepper to taste. Pass through a fine sieve
To assemble
Lay on a plate the strips of Sea Trout. Season the fish. Then drizzle with a little dressing. Assemble with the diced pear, seaweed and foam. Caviar and baby celery leaves.
Dressed Crab
Serves 2
• 2 400g crabs
• Salt
• Pea Shoots
• Small Salad Leaves
• Slice granny smith Apple
• Pepper
• 1tsp mayonnaise
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil. Add the crab to the pan and boil for 14 minutes per 400gr crab add 5 minutes per 450gr over that. Remove from the water and stand on its nose to allow the water to drain away as the crab cools.
To prepare the cooked, cooled crab, first remove the legs by twisting them off where they meet the body. Remove the claws by pulling them off from the body. Separate the crab body from the central part of the crab by placing the crab on its back (hard shell-side down). Put your hands under the edge of the crab and push upwards until you hear it break. Remove all ten of the dead men’s fingers and discard. Drain any excess water from the shell of the crab and remove the stomach sac and hard membranes inside the shell. Use a spoon to remove the brown meat from the shell and any soft shell that has formed. Place it into a fine sieve as this can sometimes be wet. Once drained cream with a fork. Press down on the edges of the crab shell, breaking away the outer edges to form a ‘dish’ for serving. Break each claw in half and scrape the white meat out of the thick end of the claw. Place into a separate clean bowl. Use the back of a heavy-bladed knife to crack open the remaining piece of claw and the pincers. Remove all the white meat and flake into the bowl. Remove the piece of cartilage inside each of the claws, pick off the meat and discard the cartilage. To remove the meat from the body of the crab, take a sharp knife and cut the crab body in half then in half again. Pick out the meat using your fingers, the smaller legs crack in half and extract the meat. Pick through the white meat in the bowl to break up the meat and to pick out any remaining bits of shell.
Take time to pick through the crab meat to fine broken shell.
If the brown meat is a little wet you can add a few bread crumbs, for the white crab meat add a little mayonnaise to bind it together.
Make sure the shell is clean and dry, have a few small garnish salad leaves, a quenelle of brown and white crab meat, diced bramley jelly and thin sliced granny smith apple.
Apple Jelly
• 250 mls Apple Juice
• 3 leaves gelatine
Warm Apple Juice, Soak gelatine in cold water until it is soft and pliable, squeeze out extra moisture and dissolve in warm juice. Pass through a fine sieve. Place into a cling filmed tray pour to a depth of 15mm. Allot to set in the fridge overnight.
