Plate Up Like A French Chef: Confit Marron Crayfish

Julien gained his culinary skills from Brittany, west of France and has enjoyed an extensive career in hospitality across four continents in almost two decades through various senior roles across 5 star hotels, to large establishments and Michelin starred restaurants. With all this knowledge, he is able to show us how to drag, smear and plate up a truly memorable meal.

Serves 4
Preparation Time 2 hours
Cooking Time 2 hours

INGREDIENTS

Confit marron crayfish
4 live crayfish (put to sleep on ice)
4 large sprig lemon thyme
6 Tblsp citrus olive oil

Celeriac puree
1kg peeled and sliced celeriac
1 white onion sliced
250mls milk
4 cloves chopped garlic
6 sprigs thyme
2 fresh bay leaves

Celeriac and truffle mille feuille
500g peeled celeriac
12 slices of black truffle
150mls ghee
4 sprigs thyme
1 fresh bay leaf
Sea salt

Wattle seed obulato paper
1 egg white
1tsp ground wattle seed
4 sheets obulato paper
1tsp freeze dried sherry vinegar flakes
Drizzle of truffle oil

METHOD

Confit marron crayfish
1 Preheat oven to steam option for 5 minutes.
2 Place crayfish in a steamer tray and steam for 2 minutes, then chill into an iced water bath and let cool down for 10minutes.
3 Take off the head then work the shell off towards the tail, once the tail is left pinch the meat and pull of the tail to pull the entrails out.
4 Place the meat in a small vacuum bag with the thyme and oil, seal.

Celeriac puree
5 In a medium pot sweat the onion, garlic, bay leaves and thyme with a little oil.
6 Once the onions start to caramelise add the celeriac and sweat taking care to colour.
7 Once the celeriac is 80% cooked add the milk and finish off the cooking process until the celeriac is fully cooked, blend whilst still hot and smooth.

Celeriac and truffle mille feuille
8 Slice the celeriac into 5cm by 5cm squares 2mm thick, you will 5 of these.
9 Lay the slices evenly in a vacuum bag with no overlapping, place the ghee, thyme and bay leafs in the bag, seal and cook sous vide 85c for 15 minutes.
10 Cool the celeriac down, once cooled lay one square flat on a plate, place 4 truffle slices over to cover, then repeat until all celeriac and truffle is used, lay them on top of each other neatly so it’s like a layered block. Place in a vacuum bag and seal, place back in a circulator at 53c to melt the ghee back down so that it sticks, cool and then portion. With the 5th piece of celeriac take a small ring cutter and punch out 3 rounds.

Wattle seed obulato paper
11 Preheat oven to 200c, take a silpat and brush the area size of a sheet of obulato with egg white so that the paper sticks.
12 Lay one sheet of paper then brush with egg white and lay another sheet, repeat until all 4 sheets are layered.
13 Bake in the oven for 90 seconds with the fan off. Drizzle with the oil and bake for another 60 seconds then sprinkle with the wattle seed and sherry vinegar flakes.

Plate up
1 Heat up and check seasoning of celeriac puree.
2 Place mille-feuille on baking paper and heat up in the oven set at 200c for 3 minutes.
3 Take marron and baste in a pan with sizzling butter until medium well cooked, rest on paper towel.
4 Drag and smear some puree onto the plate
5 Place the mille feuille into the middle showing the layers of the truffle.
6 Stand the marron up so the head end is leaning on the corner of the celeriac.
7 Place 3 rounds of confit celeriac on the marron and place a piece of obulato on top of the marron.

The Carousel thanks Julien Pouteau and interconsydney for this recipe.