CRA ISH R A ITH URE I A S ASH A D PĀUA CHIPS

A seafood treat to usher in the New Year from Fleur’s Place chef Lyall Minhinnick.

Serves 2

CRA ISH USTARD HITE SAUCE crayfish mustard

⅓ onion, finely diced cloves garlic, finely diced butter flour milk cream cheese, plus extra to top for grilling whole crayfish, halved, with the tail meat pulled out and diced freshly chopped herbs to garnish

Saute the crayfish mustard, onion and garlic in butter until soft (do not brown). Add the flour and mix to a roux base. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly so the white sauce doesn’t go lumpy, (a smooth consistency is what you are aiming for).

Add the cream (you want a smooth, thick creamy sauce), then add cheese. Once you have a smooth creamy sauce, add the diced crayfish meat from the tail into your white sauce, then place the mixture back inside the shell. Garnish with herbs, and set aside.

URE I A S ASH

Urenika (Māori) potatoes cream butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the urenika (Māori potatoes) with their skin on until soft. Smash the potatoes, rustic style. It doesn’t matter if they are lumpy, as long as they are cooked through and soft. Add the cream, butter, and salt and pepper and mix through. Top the crayfish tails with the warm smash and a sprinkle of cheese. Place under a grill for 4 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.

Serve with freshly chopped herbs, alongside the pāua chips.

PĀUA BEER-BATTERED CHIPS pāua cleaned, gutted, and sliced into chip shapes (as best you can) oil to fry pāua

Fry the pāua chips quickly in a hot pan, drain on paper towels, then allow to cool before battering.

BATTER

flour cornflour smoked paprika baking powder Salt and pepper to taste beer (or you can use soda water) lemon, zest and juice oil for deep frying the pāua flour (in a separate bowl to dip pāua in before putting it into batter mix)

T SER

E

Lemons quartered for garnish Wild herbs, fresh herbs to garnish Pāua shell

Crayfish tails

Preheat a deep fryer to 175C ready to fry the pāua chips. If you don’t have a deep fryer, use a pot.

Put the first measure of flour, cornflour, smoked paprika, baking powder, and salt and pepper into a bowl, add the beer or soda water, and lemon juice and zest, constantly mixing so it does not go lumpy.

Once the pāua chips are sauteed and have cooled down, dip them into flour, then the batter, then into your hot oil. (Dipping them in the flour first, helps the batter stick to the pāua).

Fry as many as you can at once, until finished. Serve hot and season to taste, garnish with freshly chopped parsley, and serve next to the crayfish mornay inside a pāua shell with lemons on the side.