Shay Cooper serves up a stunning crab salad with refreshing cucumber and lemon verbena jelly, a herb mayonnaise and crisp apple discs. A cold starter such as this is perfect for a dinner party, as you can prepare all the elements in advance.
To begin, make the cucumber and lemon verbena jelly. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water and set aside
3 1/2 gelatine leaves
2
Add the cucumber pieces and lemon verbena to a blender and blitz until completely liquidised. Strain through a fine sieve and measure out 500ml of the liquid to make the jelly
Stir in the sugar and apple vinegar and add 150ml of the liquid to a small saucepan set over a low-medium heat. Squeeze any excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the heated cucumber juice until completely dissolved. Transfer to the cold cucumber mixture and chill over a bowl of ice. Place in the fridge until ready to serve, at which point you could either cut into cubes or spoon only the plate for a more rustic finish
20g of sugar
15ml of apple vinegar
4
To make the herb mayonnaise, first make a soft herb purée. Bring the water to the boil with the salt then add the herbs, cooking until soft when rubbed between your fingers. Place in a blender, blitz to a smooth purée then transfer to a bowl set over ice to chill
To make the mayonnaise, add the vinegar, salt and egg yolk to a bowl with 1 tbsp of water. Whisk together to combine, then very slowly mix in the rapeseed and olive oils to emulsify. Keep going until you have a thick mayonnaise, then stir in 25g of the herb purée at the end (you can freeze any leftover for other dishes). Add to a squeezy bottle or piping bag
Dress the plates with the herbs and herb mayonnaise and spoon the crab mixture on top in a natural fashion. Spoon on some cucumber jelly and arrange the apple discs and cresses on top of the crab
One of England’s up-and-coming, ultra-talented chefs with Michelin pedigree, Shay Cooper started cooking as a commis chef in 1997, before he was even out of school.
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