Redclaw Chawan-Mushi

THE FOLLOWING recipe could be called ‘fusion cuisine’, where East (Japan) meets West (Italy) in an abundance of flavours. Whatever you would like to call it, Redclaw Chawan Mushi tastes absolutely delicious, whether served warm or chilled. Perhaps the best way to describe this recipe is as a savoury style custard partnered with a frothy cappuccino style topping of wasabi cream. The quantities shown will serve four. To kill the redclaw humanely, place them in a freezer for about 15-20 minutes before cooking or peeling.

CHAWAN MUSHI

Ingredients

• 12 redclaw, uncooked
• 2 tablespoons Kikkoman soy sauce
• 100g bok choy leaves, roughly chopped
• 4 spring onions, including the green tops, finely sliced
• 4 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups dashi or fish stock
• 2 tablespoons mirrin

Preparation

• Remove the heads from the redclaw and turn them on their backs. Cut down each side of the underbelly and pull away the shell. Then it is a simple matter to remove the meat from the tails.

• Slice the meat into thick pieces and place in a bowl with one tablespoon of the soy sauce. Allow to marinade for about 10 minutes. At the end of this time, drain the redclaw meat and discard the marinade.

• Preheat your oven to 375F/200C.

• Beat the eggs in a bowl. Mix the dashi or fish stock, mirrin and soy sauce in another bowl. Pour this mixture in a thin stream into the beaten eggs. Do this very gently so that you don't get any bubbles in the egg mixture and the two mixtures blend well.

• Divide the redclaw meat, bok choy leaves and spring onions between four heat-proof cups. Ladle the egg mixture into the cups, filling to about 0.5cm below the top of the cup.

• Cover each cup with alfoil and place in a roasting dish. Add hot water to the roasting dish until the level of the water is about two thirds of the way up the cups. Place the roasting pan into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the chawan mushi is set. Remove the roasting dish from the oven, carefully remove the cups from the roasting dish and place them to one side to cool.

Cappuccino Style Topping

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon wasabi
• 1 nori sheet

Preparation

• Lightly whip the cream and wasabi together in a bowl until soft peaks form. Roll the sheet of nori up very tightly and slice thinly.

• To serve, spoon a generous amount of the wasabi cream ‘cappuccino style’ topping over the top of the cooled Redclaw Chawan Mushi.

• Sprinkle the top of the wasabi cream with a little of the chopped nori. The shredded nori adds another taste dimension to this recipe and completes the look of a cappuccino (just like the grated chocolate that is served on the top of a cappuccino). A delicious touch is the addition of a couple of poached redclaw and one or two tempura redclaw alongside the competed Chawan Mushi.

I recommend serving Montana Avec with Seafood as a perfect accompaniment to Redclaw Chawan Mushi. This Sauvignon Blanc Semillon is a medium style wine with a crisp dry finish and marries well with the multitude of delicious flavours in this recipe.

Redclaw supplied by Beaudesert Redclaw Crayfish Farm, ph (07) 5541 3844.