Lightly Smoked Lobster with Sea Purslane and Suffolk Samphire
Smoked Lobster
- 1lb lobster
- 2tbs extra virgin olive oil
- Sprigs of fresh herbs such as savoury, flowering thyme and rosemary
- 2 Cedar wood sheets soaked for one hour in cold water
- 4 spears of asparagus
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Make sure that the lobster fits before you start.
Once the water is boiling rapidly place the lobster inside and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for 4 minutes, remove the tail from the body, I wear thick rubber gloves to protect my hands and return the claws to the boiling water for a further 3 minutes.
Cool both the tail and claws in ice water.
Prepare the tail: Crush the shell with your hands, this will make serving easy and ensure that the smoke penetrates the tail. Brush the tail with some of the oil, wrap it in one of the soaked cedar sheets together with a generous amount of the fresh herbs, roll the wood up and secure with kitchen string.
Prepare the claws: Use a small light hammer or cleaver to remove the shell from the claw meat. Glaze the meat with some of the oil and use the asparagus and the remainder of the herbs when rolling the mixture up in the soaked cedar wood sheet Secure with kitchen string.
Cook the parcels on a mild heat. I like to cook them on the cooler parts of the barbecue so that the soaked wood does not dry out too quickly nor burn too fast. If you are using a Webber or a barbecue with a lid use the lid to encourage the smoking. The wood should burn a bit so that the lobster gets the smoky flavour. I smoke it for about 10 - 12 minutes over low heat.
New Potato and Sea Vegetable Salad
- 8 boiled new potatoes, skin on
- 150g samphire
- 2tbs sea purslane
- 2 rashers of smoked back bacon
- 2 tbs blanched and popped broad beans
- 1tsp grain mustard
- 1tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1tbs extra virgin olive oil
- Freshly cracked black pepper and course sea salt
Heat a medium non stick frying pan and saute the samphire in a splash of olive oil for two minutes, remove from the pan.
In the same pan cook the bacon until crispy, remove and deglaze the pan with the vinegar, oil and grain mustard to form the vinaigrette.
Cut the cooked potatoes in half and mix with the warm vinaigrette.
Chop the bacon into small pieces and mix with the potatoes, broad beans and sampire. Add half of the sea purslane and season to taste.
Serve smoked lobster with the potato and sea vegetable salad and garnish with the rest of the sea purslane.
Serves 2