Warm lobster & potato salad with truffled mayonnaise

Treat your guests to a decadent restaurant-style main course for a third of the price

  • Prep:1 hrs 10 mins
    Cook:20 mins
  • Serves 4
  • More effort

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 669
  • fat 55g
  • saturates 8g
  • carbs 25g
  • sugars 4g
  • fibre 3g
  • protein 21g
  • salt 0.7g

Ingredients

  • 2 cooked lobsters, about 500g each
  • 250g fine green beans, cooked
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 12 new potatoes, cooked
  • 100g mixed baby salad leaves
  • 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tbsp English mustard
  • 300ml olive oil
  • few drops truffle oil (optional)
  • juice ½ lemon

Tip

Lobsters
To cook your own lobster, first place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to make them drowsy. Boil a large pan of water and season with salt, coriander seeds, lemon, lime, fennel, bay leaf and star anise. Boil the lobsters for approximately 5 minutes, until they change colour. Remove and cool a little, then prep, as it’s easier while the lobster is still warm. Do not throw away the shells as they freeze well and make the base for a delicious shellfish stock or soup.Potatoes
The potatoes here have been cooked for 5 minutes, drained and sliced 1cm thick. If you want, you can use a 4cm round metal cutter to trim them into perfect circles before boiling. The potatoes can be boiled 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge.Beans
The beans need to be blanched for 4 mins in boiling salted water, then plunged into heavily iced water so they stay bright green. Can be boiled and cooled the day before, then left in the fridge. The mayo makes more than you need. It will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Method

  1. To make the mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolks with the mustard and some salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Trickle in a few drops of oil, whisking vigorously.

  2. Continue to whisk in the oil, little by little at first, then slowly increasing the amount to a steady stream. Make sure each addition is well incorporated before you add any more. Finally, add a few drops of the truffle oil, if using, then finish with the lemon juice. Keep in the fridge until needed.

  3. Prepare the lobster and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Trim the frayed bit of meat from the tails and flake the claw meat into large chunks, discarding the membrane. Set aside. Cut the tails into 6 slices each and set aside.

  4. Trim the ends off the beans and cut the beans in half. Tip into a bowl with the shallots and 3 tbsp of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the lobster claw meat and squeeze over a lemon half, then set aside.

  5. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Fry the potato slices over a medium heat for 5 mins on each side until crisp and golden. Use a fish slice to transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper.

  6. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in the same pan and lower the heat, add the slices of tail meat to the pan, then heat through in the oil for a few moments on each side. Turn off the heat, season lightly with salt and pepper and squeeze over the lemon. Moments before you are ready to plate up, toss the salad leaves with the balsamic vinegar and remaining olive oil. You are now ready to plate up.

  7. Spoon a quarter of the green bean salad into the centre of the plate. Shape using a 10cm ring or cutter, if you have one, then press down lightly and remove the ring. Place 1 tsp of mayonnaise on the four opposite sides of the outside of the plate and sit a piece of lobster on top of each spoonful of mayonnaise.

  8. Put a fried potato slice in between each pile of lobster so you have alternate pieces of lobster, then potato. Toss the leaves in the dressing and carefully tower a small handful on top of the green beans and serve straight away.

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