Lobster roll with fennel, carrot and orange salad
When you think of a lobster roll, you’re reminded of generous portions of lobster mixed with mayonnaise and buttery goodness, somewhere in New England. Sadly, for those of us in London lobster is rarely cheap and plentiful, so we’ll be lucky to get a few chunks of lobster in our roll. Some will serve it up as a more decadent affair, jazzing it up to distract you from the lack of actual lobster – and we’ve done just that, with the addition of truffle and a deliciously crunchy and refreshing salad.
Time: Quick
Difficulty level: Medium
Washing up: Medium
Ingredients:
For 2 portions, you will need:
2 raw lobster tails*
2 brioche buns or rolls
Egg yolk (organic, ideally)
½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Butter
1 – 2 tbsp good quality truffle oil (we love Truffle Hunters)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 small fennel bulb
1 large carrot
Orange
Small bunch of coriander
White wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Fine grater or zester (we love Microplane)
Mandolin (or good knife skills!)
Method:
Firstly, prepare the lobster by cutting the shell down the middle, basting with melted butter and cooking in the oven at 180C until the shells are red and the flesh is cooked (around 10 minutes). When slightly cool, remove the shells (save for stock!) and gut of the lobster (the dark brown/black ‘vein’), and cut the white flesh into small chunks.
Meanwhile, prepare the truffle mayonnaise. Melt around 15g butter in a ramekin or small dish. Place the egg yolk in a separate bowl with the mustard and whisk with an electric whisk. Whilst whisking, slowly start to pour in the melted butter, and the mixture should start to thicken. Once all the butter is in, continue whisking and slowly drizzle in the truffle oil. You should have a thick, deliciously truffley mayonnaise. Add salt to taste (you may need to be quite generous but the amount used will largely depend on the amount of salt in the butter, we tend to use unsalted butter and then season it ourselves).
Next, prepare the salad ingredients. Zest the orange, peel and segment (remove any pith), reserve any juice that runs off for the dressing. Cut off the fronds from the fennel and chop. Cut off any rough bits from the ends of the fennel and discard, before finely slicing the bulb with the mandolin. Peel and grate the carrot thickly. Finely chop the coriander (leaves and stalks). Mix together the fennel slices, fronds, grated carrot, coriander, orange zest and segments in a salad bowl.
In another small bowl whisk together the reserved orange juice, about a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, a good glug of olive oil, and plenty of salt. Taste for balance (the amounts will vary depending on the sweetness and quantity of orange juice) — you should have a sharp but sweet and salty mix. Pour over the salad and mix well.
Finally, cut the brioche bun in half and lightly toast. Mix together the lobster chunks and truffle mayonnaise, and fill the brioche buns. Serve alongside the salad.
Tips:
This dish naturally goes very well with a glass of Champagne, but we also recommend it with our Yuzu Sour.
*It’s true to say that you can’t make a lobster roll without lobster. That said, lobster in London is awfully expensive (we paid £12.50 for two lobster tails, each yielding just a few chunks of meat) and we also know that not everyone eats seafood. Even though it wouldn’t be the same dish, we think that this dish could still be extremely delicious with a lobster alternative (it has truffle, butter, and brioche… it’s going to be great). You could try other firm seafood like prawns or langoustines; potentially a firm white fish like monkfish or tilapia. Vegetarian alternatives could be fried chunks of aubergine or perhaps banana leaf flower, which has a slightly fishy flavour and texture. We’d love to hear how you get along with these alternatives!
Stay salty af,
Anika and Fleurie
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