Sous vide crab roulade, avocado mousse, cucumber sauce and basil mayonnaise
- Starter
- Medium
- 4
- 1 hour 30 minutes
PT1H30M
With delicate shades of green and white, Martin Wishart’s impressive sous vide crab and avocado starter recipe looks stunning on the plate. Only the sweet white crab meat is needed for this dish, but the leftover brown meat can be put to good use in other recipes – try whipping up a crab mayonnaise to serve with bread and salad for a simple, tasty lunch. If you have never killed a live crab before take a look at our how to cook crab page.
Ingredients
Crab and avocado roulade
- 2 live brown crabs , 1kg each
- 2 avocados
- 30ml of olive oil
Avocado mousse
- 3 avocados , ripe
- 20g of créme fraiche
- 1/2 lime , juiced
- 2 drops of Tabasco
- 10g of Worcestershire sauce
- salt
Cucumber sauce
- 4 cucumbers
- 15g of sugar
- 10g of white wine vinegar
- 3g of xanthan gum
- 100g of honeydew melon , diced into 1cm cubes
- salt
Basil mayonnaise
- 25g of basil
- 2 egg yolks
- 10g of white wine vinegar
- 5g of Dijon mustard
- 300ml of vegetable oil
Garnish
- 8 nasturtium leaves
- 2g of Espelette pepper
Equipment
- Blender
- Juicer
- Disposable piping bag
- Water bath
- Bar sealer
- Vacuum bags
Method
1
Preheat a water bath to 85°C
2
Kill the crabs, then and break off the legs and claws. Setting the bodies to one side, fully vacuum the legs and claws in a large pouch
- 2 live brown crabs , 1kg each
3
Submerge the bag of legs and claws in the water bath for 10 minutes. Once poached, remove from the pouch and crack each claw with the back of a knife
4
Flake the white meat from the legs and claws into a bowl and thoroughly go through the meat to remove any pieces of shell. Lightly dress the crab with the olive oil to bind, seasoning to taste
- 30ml of olive oil
5
To prepare the roulades, cut the avocados in half and peel off the outer skin. Carefully remove the stone, then cut each half lengthways into 2mm thin slices
- 2 avocados
6
Using half an avocado per portion, arrange the slices overlapping on cling film and fill with the dressed crab meat. Roll up the avocado and crab into a roulade shape and chill until ready to serve
7
For the avocado mousse, blitz the avocados in a blender, adding the crème fraîche to form a smooth purée. Season with the salt and add the lemon juice, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce to taste, then pass the avocado mixture through a fine sieve. Transfer to a piping bag and reserve until ready to serve
8
To make the cucumber sauce, juice the cucumbers and weigh out 350g of juice. Combine this with the sugar and vinegar, then whisk through the xanthan gum until fully dissolved. Season to taste, then add the diced melon to the sauce and set aside
- 4 cucumbers
- 15g of sugar
- 10g of white wine vinegar
- 3g of xanthan gum
- 100g of honeydew melon , diced into 1cm cubes
- salt
9
Next, prepare the mayonnaise. Whisk the egg yolks, white wine vinegar and mustard together in a bowl until pale
- 2 egg yolks
- 5g of Dijon mustard
- 10g of white wine vinegar
10
Still whisking, gradually add the oil to the egg mixture until all the oil is emulsified. Blanch the basil leaves quickly in boiling water, transferring to ice water to refresh, then finely chop and stir through the mayonnaise. Season to taste and set aside
- 300ml of vegetable oil
- 25g of basil
11
To serve, spoon a generous amount of cucumber sauce into the bottom of four deep serving plates, ensuring an even spread of diced melon in each bowl
12
Pipe a little of the avocado mousse down the centre of each bowl, adding a few dots of the basil mayonnaise, and place one of the avocado and crab roulades on each plate. Season with Espelette pepper and garnish with nasturtium leaves. Serve immediately
- 8 nasturtium leaves
- 2g of Espelette pepper
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Sous vide crab roulade, avocado mousse, cucumber sauce and basil mayonnaise
