On a beautiful mission out to Rottnest Island, Rich Keam caught and managed to record a recipe for BBQ rock lobster with a gorgeous salad.
By Rich Keam
Western Australia has it all when it comes to food and drink. Trust me, it's been home for the last five months, as I undertake my Taste Master duties of this vast and varied state. It's been a tough gig, learning to brew beer, wine making, sniffing out truffles. One of my favourite missions was to Rottnest Island, to catch, cook and eat Western Australian Rock Lobster.
My guide was Welshman-turned-Perth local Kiren Mainwaring who is the chef and owner of two of the city’s hot restaurants (Co-op dining and Dear Friends). Kiren’s approach to food is a response to what’s fresh, local and in season, and he has a passion for the local seafood that can be found in the waters of Rottnest Island, a 30 min boat ride from Perth in the Indian Ocean. He took me out to catch some Rock Lobster at the start of what is known as the ‘White Crayfish Run’.
The ‘White Crayfish Run’ is when the lobsters (or crayfish as they’re known to the locals) molt their shells and become a much lighter colour, almost a pale pink. They’re preparing to camouflage themselves as they march out across the sand to deeper ocean waters.
With the help of local fisherman and chef Aristos Papandroulakis, we jumped on his boat and pulled in a pot of fresh crayfish. Kiren showed me how to cook them up on a beach BBQ with a salad of grilled peaches, nectarines and samphire he’d sourced from all over Perth.
I’ve manage to talk Kiren into sharing his recipe and you can watch him cook it up (and my attempts to catch a lobster pot) here.
BBQ Western Rock Lobster with Stone Fruit and Samphire Salad
By Kiren Mainwaring
Serves 2
Using an ingredient like fresh rock lobster I like to keep the recipe simple. Putting it straight on the BBQ is a perfect for a casual summer meal. Making use of fresh, local and seasonal ingredients is key to this dish. Keeping in mind the heat of the day, I wanted to make something that complements the lobster but also keeps it fresh and healthy.
Ingredients:
1 lobster (Crayfish) split and cleaned
1 nectarine
1 peach
10g of lemon verbena, finely chopped
25g of washed sweet potato leaves
10g of wild samphire
4 young grape shoots, roughly chopped
2g of fennel pollen
Juice of 1 lemon
2tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Extra lemon
Sea salt
Freshly ground black peppercorns
Method
Sprinkle a little sea salt onto the prepared lobster and put it face down onto the hot BBQ. You’ll get a nice sizzle as you do this. It won’t take long to cook so roughly slice your peach and nectarine into thick chunks. Put these on the BBQ face down too.
Now for the salad. In a medium bowl add the fennel pollen, breaking it up as you go. Then add roughly sliced purple and green beans, sliced vine shoots, and finely chopped lemon verbena. Break the raw samphire up with your hands and add it straight in. Some people like to cook their samphire, but I love the texture when it’s served raw. Lobster is normally served with a potato salad or some kind of starch, but I keep this dish nice and fresh so the final thing to add is some sweet potato leaves. They have a subtle potato flavour that complements the lobster.
Finally a little dressing; some extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and mix it up with your fingers.
You want to cook the lobster until it’s just opaque and seared on the top. Just past underdone. The nectarines and peaches should get a nice caramelized top. When they’re done turn them over carefully and squeeze some lemon over the tops.
Pull the meat from the lobster, it should come out in almost one piece. Then roughly chop and place on your dish. Top with the salad and finally the grilled stone fruit. It isn’t obligatory to eat it on the beach where you caught it, but I strongly recommend it.
Rich Keam is originally from Portsmouth, UK. He was one of thousands of entrants to Tourism Australia's Best Jobs in the World campaign. He arrived in Perth in August 2013 to take up his prize job as Taste Master of Western Australia. Eating and drinking his way around the state... Hard job right? You can follow Rich's adventures on www.tastewesternaustralia.com or at @richkeam on Twitter. You can also follow Kiren on Twitter @chefkiren.