Crab and sea beet filo crisp tart, by Madalene Bonvini-Hamel
For the crab salad
Ingredients
(Serves 4-6)
400g freshly cooked and picked white crab meat
1tbs mascarpone
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1tbs finely chopped chervil
1 lime, juice and zest
Method
Mix the crab meat with the mascarpone, freshly chopped herbs and season to taste with the lime juice, zest and salt and pepper. Chill for 10 minutes before serving.
For the filo crisp wafers
Ingredients
4 sheets of filo pastry
200g clarified butter
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C - turn the fan off in convection ovens.
Melt the clarified butter and brush each sheet of filo with butter, season with the pepper, place another sheet on top and continue the process until all four sheets are on top of each other. Use a sharp knife to cut the filo in 5cm x 15cm rectangles.
Make four long sausages with foil and place it on a baking tray with 10cm gaps in between, drape the buttered filo over the foil to create waves.
Bake the filo in the preheated oven for five minutes, check if it's golden and crisp and continue to bake for a further five minutes until the filo is crisp and golden.
Let the filo waves cool completely. Keep them in an airtight container until needed.
For the avocado puree
Ingredients
1 large ripe avocado
1tbs mascarpone cheese
Juice of one large lime
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Few drops of Tabasco sauce
Method
Peel the avocado, place the avocado pulp, mascarpone, Tabasco and lime juice in a blender, season and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Keep refrigerated until needed.
For the sea beet puree and jelly
Ingredients
200g sea beet
1 large bunch of watercress
1.5g agar agar powder
Method
Bring a large saucepan with seasoned water to the boil. Blanch the watercress and sea beet and refresh in ice water. Blend both into a smooth purée, adding a tablespoon of ice water to thin the purée down if it's too thick. Pass the purée through a fine sieve.
Measure 150ml of water in a small saucepan, add 1.5g of agar agar and add 100g of the fine purée. Bring to the boil, mix well and simmer for one minute. Pour the liquid into a small tray and leave to set completely at room temperature.
Keep the remaining purée chilled to prevent discoloration.
For the pickled cucumber
Ingredients
1 cucumber
Maldon sea salt
Pinch of sugar
1tsp of cider vinegar
Method
Dice the cucumber and remove the seeds. Place the diced cucumber in a vacuum bag, season and add the sugar and vinegar. Seal on hard vacuum and leave for 30 minutes.
To assemble, chill the serving plates. Drain the cucumber. Spread the sea beet purée on the plate, transfer the avocado purée to a squeezy bottle and dot the avocado over the plate, dice the jelly and scatter. Arrange Julienne fresh sea beet on the plate with watercress leaves. Place the crisp filo sheets on top and place two quenelles of crab salad on to of the filo sheets. Garnish the dish further with the jelly, cucumber, sea beet and watercress leaves. Serve immediately.
