Southern Rocklobster Tail with Organic Asparagus, Cuttlefish Ink Pasta

Makes 1 serve

For the cuttlefish ink pasta dough (makes 21 x 50g portions)

110g Riunione brand cuttlefish ink - see tip
600g plain flour
10g fine sea salt
30g extra virgin olive oil
4 x 67g whole eggs
1 x 67g egg, egg yolk

Weigh the cuttlefish ink, flour, salt and olive oil into the mixing bowl and using the pastry paddle, mix together until the ink is evenly distributed. Whisk the whole eggs and yolks together and add them to the flour. Work on the slowest speed until the dough comes together as a firm black dough.
Bag the dough and refrigerate until ready to roll.

To use

Portion 50g pieces of dough. Keep it covered as it dries out quite quickly. Roll in a pasta machine until you have the full width of the rollers for standard machine. For commercial width use 100g and still roll to the full width and then roll to the last notch and cut through the linguine cutters.

TIP Cuttlefish ink varies greatly. Riunione brand is thick and gelatinous. We keep our cuttlefish ink in the freezer because we do not like cuttlefish ink pasta that has a fishy smell.

For the Southern Rocklobster

3 sprigs of French tarragon, stalked and finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, melted but not hot
1 x 360g green rocklobster tail
Maldon sea salt
White pepper, freshly ground

Mix the tarragon into the butter. Make a double layer of food wrap and spread some of the butter onto the plastic.
Season the tail generously with salt and pepper, then butterfly the thin end of the tail and fold it back so that the whole tail is a uniform thickness. Place the tail on the plastic/butter and roll the tail tightly. Refrigerate for one hour to firm, then cut into three even portions. Put a little butter into the bag, season the top of each portion and add a little butter. Put an oiled 8 cm ring into the bag, drop the portion into the ring and press the rocklobster into the ring. Bag and date. Repeat the process with the remaining two portions.

Lime beurre blanc - per 1

50ml seasoned European rocklobster stock
20g fresh strained lime juice
30g COLD unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
salt
white pepper freshly ground to taste
Reduce the stock and lime juice by half, then knock in the butter. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required.

For the asparagus - per 1

3 spears of thick organic asparagus
10g shallot peeled weight
10g butter
Maldon sea salt
White pepper, freshly and finely ground
Boiling salted water with a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil

Snap the spears and discard the tough end, and keeping them to one side, slice the stalk end very finely until you have about 8cm tips. Split the tips lengthwise.
Sauté the shallot in the butter until it is softened, season and set to one side.

To serve

Drop a portion into the water bath and set a timer for 5 minutes. When the timer goes, remove the rocklobster portion and put it under the lights. Drop a pasta portion and return the shallot to the heat and add the sliced asparagus.
Drain the pasta and toss through some really good extra virgin olive oil. Set a 12cm ring in the middle of a warm plate and twist the pasta into the ring. Put the shallot and sliced asparagus on top. Split the bag and using a spatula lift the portion onto the pasta and press it into position and carefully remove the rings. Drop the asparagus tips, re-warm the beurre blanc.
Drain the asparagus and arrange on top of the rocklobster and spoon the beurre blanc around the pasta. We used dill flowers from our herb garden for the garnish.

Tip

We keep our beurre blanc in a thermos during service and empty it into a container at the end of service. If it is not used, it is very easy to reconstitute for the next service.