INGREDIENTS:
(4 servings)
1 large ripe avocado
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste
½ large mango, softer outer flesh - other ½ used in mango coulis
1 large red bell pepper, roasted
1 each 1¼ pound
Maine Lobster, smoked
2 each kiwi fruit
4 Tablespoons 5-spice infused olive oil - recipe follows
4 Tablespoons balsamic syrup - recipe follows
4 Tablespoons mango coulis - recipe follows
5-spice infused olive oil
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder
½ teaspoon sugar, granulated
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Balsamic Syrup
Reduce 1 cup Balsamic vinegar by 2/3, so you are left with a syrupy consistency.
Mango Coulis
½ large ripe mango, tougher inner flesh - leftover from above
1 cup orange juice (fresh if available)
DIRECTIONS:
Peel avocado, and dice fine. Both avocado and mango need to be ripe, as the texture needs to be soft, not firm. Mix one tablespoon lemon juice with avocado to retain fresh green color, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.
Peel mango, and remove as much flesh as possible. Keep the outer, softer flesh aside; to be finely diced you need one cup of finely diced mango for presentation. The inner, tougher flesh can be roughly chopped and used in mango coulis (recipe follows).
Dice the roasted red pepper into ¼” dice. Refrigerate. One large pepper should yield 1 cup.
For the Maine Lobster, the only really important part of removing the meat of the Maine Lobster is to make sure the claws stay whole, to be used as a finishing garnish on top. The tail and knuckle meat (and if you’re willing to dig for it, the leg meat) can be roughly diced and set aside (refrigerate). This should yield about 1 cup of meat. Now the claws need to be as whole as possible so they can be cut in half horizontally, so it looks like you now have 4 claws instead of two. These should also be refrigerated.
To assemble:
Place a 4” ring mold on serving plate. Firmly pack ¼ cup of avocado into mold as evenly as possible. Repeat with ¼ cup mango packed evenly. (Another reason why ripe fruit is necessary is that it packs better into the mold). Repeat with ¼ cup roasted red pepper packed evenly. Finally, pack ¼ cup lobster meat into mold. This should bring it right up to the top of the mold. Set molded plate into refrigerator while you peel the kiwi and slice it crossways into thin circles.
Remove plate from refrigerator and ring the mold with kiwi slices. Gently push down on kiwi to make sure everything is tightly packed. Then, while holding kiwi slices, gently remove the ring mold. This should yield a nice, free standing strata.
Place halved Maine Lobster claw on top of kiwi, then garnish with approximately 1 Tablespoon each: mango coulis, balsamic syrup, and 5 spice infused olive oil.
5-spice infused olive oil
Place all ingredients in saucepan. Heat for about 5 minutes over low flame. Remove from heat and let set for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes, strain out red pepper flakes and sugar. Make sure the strainer is not so fine as to remove all of the 5 spice powder. Transfer strained spice infused oil to squirt bottle (if available) or bowl.
Balsamic Syrup
Set aside to let cool, then transfer to squirt bottle (if available).
Mango Coulis
The mango, which should be roughly one cup, is pureed with the orange juice and placed in a saucepan (non-aluminum) and reduced by one half. After reduced, set aside to cool, then put into squirt bottle (if available).
