Butter Poached Southern Rocklobster Tail, Duck Liver Parfait, Kumquat Essence

Method
pre heat the sous–vide bath to 60°C
Butterfly the tail end of the Rocklobster tail so that it has and even thickness. Season it and place it in a vac bag. Add the butter, lime rind and lime slices and vacuum seal the bag.

cooking times vary
from the service fridge: 4–12 hours refrigeration — 25 minutes
from live, prepped and cooked: (meaning no prolonged refrigeration) — 16 minutes

tips — You can portion this dish individually using buttered stainless rings, which delivers the obvious portion control advantages.

Duck Liver Parfait
makes 10 portions to go with butter poached Rocklobster

500g cleaned weight, fresh duck liver
500g unsalted butter, melted to approximately 50°C
175g brown onion, peeled weight, finely chopped
8g organic garlic, macerated to a paste
25g Madeira
25g Cognac
25g red wine
25g Muscat
1 x 61g whole free range egg
5g sea salt
2.5g black pepper

Method
pre heat oven to 120°C
Blend duck liver in Thermomix or MyCook until smooth. In a separate pot add onion, garlic & liquors, reduce until halved, strain. Add butter to liver slowly whilst blending, trying to create a smooth combined emulsion, then add liquor, then the egg and seasonings.
Pour into a plastic lined terrine mould and cover with plastic food wrap. Place in a water bath and cook for 25–30 minutes. The degree of cooking is assessed with the feel of an underdone cake, still slightly wobbly in the centre and it should be taken into account that the butter will further set the parfait.

Kumquat Essence
makes about 300g

250g kumquat
125g soft brown sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
125g fresh strained orange juice
125g water

Method
Halve the kumquats and remove the seeds. Bring to boil water, juice, scraped vanilla bean & sugar, then add kumquats and continue to boil for 7 minutes. Turn down to the lowest possible point and allow to tick over for 20 minutes.

tip — if kumquats are not available mandarins are a good substitute.