Gordon Ramsay cooked this delicious looking salad on the F Word a couple of weeks ago and I intend to find out how it tastes! I love crayfish/crawdads/crawfish/crawdaddies or what ever they’re called in your region. It’s still a little cold around here to catch the little bugers, but it should be warm enough in a couple of weeks, which gives me just enough time to build my traps. I’ll post an article with pictures of my traps when I get them finished. Now on to the salad…
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 lbs. crayfish
- 2 oranges
- 2 ruby grapefruit
- 1 large banana shallot (or 2 normal ones), peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp English mustard
- Zest of 1 un-waxed orange
- 3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large firm but ripe avocado
- 7 oz. mixed salad leaves (eg, frisée, baby chard leaves, mizuna)
Cooking the Crayfish:
This part is a cinch. Bring some water to a rolling broil and dump the crayfish into it. Cook the crayfish for 2-3 minutes max! They will turn a bright pinkish orange when they’re cooked. Remove the pan from the stove and strain the water off of the crayfish.
Remove the tails from the crayfish by twisting and pulling. You will be able to remove the meat from the tails more easily if you don’t let them cool. Pinch the base of the tail and squeeze the meat out of the opening.
You can eat the claws later.
Preparing the Salad:
Slice off the tops and bottoms of the oranges and grapefruit using a sharp, serrated knife. Cut away the remaining peel and pith, then cut along the membrane of the fruit to release the segments, holding the fruit over a sieve set on a bowl to catch the juice. Squeeze out the excess juice from the core of each fruit before discarding.
Whisk together 6 tablespoons of the citrus juice with the chopped shallot, mustard, orange zest, olive oil and seasoning to taste.
Peel, stone and slice the avocado into neat slivers. Place into a bowl and gently toss with the citrus segments and crayfish tails – it is easier if you do this with your hands. Divide the mixture among four serving plates, then top with a neat pile of salad leaves in the centre. Spoon over the citrus dressing and serve immediately.
