Rocklobster Salad with Radish, Orange & Mint
Serves 4
2 x 400g cooked Rocklobsters (see notes)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ small red onion, finely sliced
120g sugar snap peas, or snow peas, blanched, trimmed (see notes)
⅔ cup finely sliced celery heart (see notes)
4 red radishes, trimmed and finely sliced
1 orange, segmented (see notes)
2 witlof, trimmed and leaves separated
⅓ cup torn mint leaves
1 avocado, diced and tossed in lemon juice
Place the Rocklobsters on their backs on a chopping board and, using a sharp knife, separate the tails from the heads. Use kitchen scissors to cut down either side of the underside of the tail shells. Pull shells back and remove the meat in one piece. Slice into 1cm discs, remove the digestive tract that runs through the top half of each disc.
Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the onion, peas, celery heart, radishes, orange segments and juice, witlof and mint and toss gently to coat. Add the avocado and Rocklobster meat, toss gently and serve immediately.
Notes: The easiest and most humane way to kill any crustacean is to chill them in the freezer for about 45 minutes until they become insensible (but not long enough to freeze them). Once chilled, they should be killed promptly by splitting in half or dropping into rapidly boiling water. See
www.rspca.org.au/policy/PostionG3.2.pdf for more details. Blanch peas in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then refresh in ice water, or cold running water, to stop the cooking. Celery heart is the tender, pale green centre from a bunch of celery. To segment the orange: using a sharp knife cut off the top and bottom to reveal the flesh, stand it upright and cut down the sides to remove all skin and white pith. Holding the orange in your hand, cut down either side of each of the membranes to remove the segments. Drop them into a small bowl and, when they are all removed, squeeze the remaining membrane over the bowl to collect the juice.
Alternative Species: Bugs, Marron, large Prawns, Redclaw, Yabby.
For information on Rocklobsters, click here >