Salad of Southern Rocklobster with Sweet Pickled Ginger, Watermelon, Green Mango and Herbs

Serves 3

For the Southern Rocklobster portion

3 x 75g green leg and knuckle rocklobster portions
6g fresh strained lime juice
6g sweet pickled ginger juice
9 coriander stems chopped

Mix everything together and divide between three moulds that have been lightly oiled. Bag, date and refrigerate. We used China teacups which produce a nice round shape, but they do make the cooking time longer.

For the salad

Serves 1

15g pickled green ginger - approx 10g julienned and 5g syrup - see below
1/2 lime, freshly squeezed and strained juice
Pinch Nigella seeds (onion seeds)
2 drops of sesame oil
10g very finely sliced shallot
80g cubed ripe watermelon
30g green mango julienne
Mint leaves
Chervil
Garlic Chives with Flowers
Coriander leaves

For the caviar

Sufficient for about 10 salads

30g Campari
20g Grenadine or strained fresh pomegranate juice
10g strained fresh lime juice
200g water
2g sodium alginate

For the bath

5g calcium chloride
1L water

Method

Mix everything for the caviar together with a stick mixer and allow to stand for one hour. Prepare the bath. Using a small bucket punched with holes or a syringe drop the pearls into the bath and allow them to become spheres. Carefully remove them into cold water that has a couple of pinches of salt and add a splash of EV olive oil and keep refrigerated. The pearls will keep for three to four days.

To serve

Cook the rocklobster portion at around 170ºC and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes. Prepare the salad component and gently toss everything together. Unmould the lobster into the centre of the plate and arrange the salad around the rocklobster meat, pouring the last of the juices over the meat. Using a slotted spoon, add some pearls to the dish and serve.

Pickled Green Ginger

Keeps indefinitely when refrigerated

1.5kg young green ginger - select large knobs
1.5L white wine vinegar
1.5kg sugar

Peel the ginger, keeping only the large pieces and reserving the scraps for minced fresh green ginger and garlic paste. Using a mandolin, slice it very finely and then julienne it. Put the julienne into a large bowl and cover generously with cold water, allow to stand for 10 minutes, then drain, rinse and repeat the process another three times.

Put the vinegar and sugar into a saucepan and place it on high heat and stir just long enough to dissolve the sugar. Add the ginger julienne, stir in and then turn the heat to the lowest possible point and continue cooking until the ginger is glacéd and the syrup has a good consistency.

As we seem to end up with an excess of syrup, we make a wonderful ginger and butter milk panna cotta infusing the cream with finely grated green ginger and a fruit accompaniment drenched in the ginger syrup.