This recipe is found in Lee's cookbook, Susur: A Culinary Life (10 Speed Press, 2005). It has been adapted by StarChefs and yields four servings. In Wednesday's Journal, we'll have something a little less ambitious for those among us who quiver at the thought of making our own squid ink dough.
Lee is in Edmonton at NAIT until Friday, teaching students in the culinary arts department. Wednesday, the school hosts a lunch with Lee, and, yes, I'm going. Yay! I'll be tweeting about it, and posting some photos with those tweets. Can't wait.
Lobster-Filled Squid Ink Ravioli in Lobster Consomme
Ingredients:
Lobster Ravioli Filling:
2 sheets gelatin
1 cup (250 mL) lobster consommé
4 shiitake mushrooms, finely diced
1 (1 ½ pound) boiled lobster, tail meat diced
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon (2 mL) cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
Squid Ink Dough:
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons (50 mL) hot water
3 tablespoons (50 mL) squid ink
3 large eggs
Additional:
1 egg white
1 cup (250 mL) lobster consommé
2 tablespoons (30 mL) shao hsing wine
Pinch sea salt
Pinch ground white pepper
Onion oil
4 ounces lobster claw meat, for garnish
4 lobster tentacles, for garnish
4 chives, for garnish
1/4 cup (50 mL) cooked lobster roe, for garnish
Spirulina powder
Method:
For Lobster Ravioli Filling:
Soak gelatin leaves in water. Remove leaves and squeeze out excess water. Place in stainless-steel bowl over pot of simmering water and melt. Add cold lobster consommé and mix well. Transfer bowl to refrigerator and chill for 1 hour to set. When set, remove and dice. Toss with mushrooms and lobster tail meat. Season with salt and peppers and return to refrigerator until ready to use.
For Squid Ink Dough:
Using a stand mixer with dough hook, combine the flour and water and mix until dough forms. Continue mixing while adding squid ink. Add eggs, one at a time, until dough is smooth and almost black. Transfer dough to a work surface dusted with flour and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Divide dough into 2 balls and roll out each to make a rope. Flatten each rope into a strip and, using a pasta machine, run each strip through decreasing settings until setting 4 is reached. Let noodle sheets dry for at least 45 minutes before cutting (if sheets are sticky, dust with flour).
Once dried, lay each sheet out on flour-dusted countertop. With a 4-inch (2.4 centimetre) cookie cutter, cut out 4 ravioli tops. With 3 ½-inch (2 centimetre) cookie cutter, cut out 4 ravioli bottoms. Dust with flour to prevent sticking. On baking sheet, arrange bottom ravioli rounds. Spoon 1/4 cup (50 mL) of ravioli filling in center of each. Brush egg white around edges of ravioli and place each top over filling. Enclose filling in ravioli circles, making sure there are no air pockets, and pinch to seal.
In medium pot, bring lobster consommé to a boil with wine. Season with salt and pepper. Place each lobster ravioli in soup bowl oiled very lightly with onion oil. Pout hot consommé, about ¼ cup each, over ravioli. Transfer bowls to steamer and steam ravioli in consommé for 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
To Serve:
Slice lobster claws into 4 portions. Use lobster tentacles to skewer lobster claw slices. Insert ends of tentacles into chives. Garnish each bowl of ravioli and consommé with lobster roe, skewered claw slice, and sprinkling of spirulina.
