Southern Rocklobster and Truffle Ravioli, Rocklobster Sauce, Passionfruit Vinaigrette and Caviar

To start with we need 1kg Rocklobster stock made using the Thermomix method as seen here

Reduce by half, weigh to ensure you have it exactly right.
Top to 500g with good spring water, taste and season the reduced stock - we find that shells from ice slurry extraction don't need salt and only occasionally pepper for the pasta dough.

Australia is blessed with some of the best flour in the world. It is no coincidence that the bakers of Iraq, some of the most talented and least celebrated bakers in the world today, fought over the limited Australian flour coming into Iraq at the height of the recent conflicts.

Much of my cooking comes from old people (older than me) who have fearlessly taken me to one side and told me "you've got it wrong!" We used to make pasta dough with strong flour until our friend Lucia, one of my city's finest traditional Italian cooks pointed out the error of our ways.
We have used soft flour or cake flour for years and the result is wonderful. Tender, but al dente, exquisite!
We also make our dough once a week and vac it; it saves time but it also seems to improve the pasta dough. It's also very easy to take out what you need and reseal. Our lovely egg man, John Morby runs free range and supplies stunning, big, delicious and super fresh eggs. Fresh, as we know is the real taste test.

We have foxes on the mainland and the John protects his chickens with lamas. They are so sweet looking yet they are fearless when it comes to protecting their charges.

Ingredients

1.8kg cake flour
30g fine sea salt
50g EV olive oil
17 x 61g COLD whole eggs
8 COLD egg yolks from 61g eggs

Method

Mix the flour, salt and oil together. Add the eggs and work the dough to a smooth well kneaded dough.
Vac and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before using the dough. We never freeze pasta dough, believing it is an altered state.

For the ravioli spheres

Makes 45 (9 appetiser/entrée serves or 5 ravioli per portion)

Equipment - half sphere silicon sheets 4cm diameter

Ingredients

315g green rocklobster meat, roughly chopped - we love leg and knuckle meat the best
90g quality Italian or French truffle paste
500g of the reduced Rocklobster stock, prepared as previously described
3g agar agar

Method

Put 7g of the green rocklobster meat into each form and then 2g of truffle paste on top.
Put the stock onto the stove, bring to the boil and then whisk in the agar agar and continue whisking until drops form on the whisk when it is held above the pot - 2-3 minutes maximum.
Using a bulb baster fill the moulds and allow them to set.

To assemble the ravioli

Roll the pasta to the finest notch and make the ravioli using as little additional flour as possible.

For the jellied rocklobster consommé

Make another batch of the agar agar consommé and set in a form that will mean it is not more than 5 mm deep.

For the passionfruit caviar - make the base 24 hours before you want to use it

100g fresh strained passionfruit juice (reserve a few seeds for the single seed garnish)
150g spring water
2g sodium alginate

Mix everything together in the Thermomix or blender. Let stand for 30 minutes, then blend again.
Refrigerate for 24 hours.

To finish and store the passionfruit caviar for the bath

5g calcium chloride
1kg water

Mix together then drop the passionfruit caviar mix into the solution and leave it there until it becomes spherical - approximately 10 minutes.
Rinse under cold water and store in 50:50 fresh strained passionfruit juice and water solution in the fridge.

For the glacé chilli strands

Very finely julienne large sweet chillies. Cook them without movement in a syrup made from equal quantities of caster sugar and quality white wine vinegar until they are translucent light emitting strips like skinny rubies.

For the passionfruit vinaigrette

The selection of the EV olive oil is critical to the success of this vinaigrette; it should be fresh and sprightly, new, but with fantastic tropical overtones, one of those rare oils with banana and pineapple notes, but with fabulous complexity and a little bitterness on the end palate.

20g roasted pureed organic garlic
240g EV Olive Oil
120g fresh strained passionfruit juice - tropical passionfruit is too sweet
Black pepper, freshly and coarsely ground
Black sea salt

Emulsify the garlic, olive oil, passionfruit and pepper. Stir the salt through so the grains of black remain apparent.

To serve

Place some fine strips of the jellied consommé on a warm plate.
Cook the ravioli, drain them and place them on the consommé.
Drizzle the passionfruit vinaigrette over the top
Garnish with the glace chilli.
Scatter the passionfruit caviar over the top.
Add a single passionfruit seed into the passionfruit vinaigrette and serve immediately

Copyright © text, recipes and images Southern Rocklobster Limited and Ann Oliver 2009