Ingredients:
Crab Meat 120G
Crème Fraiche 80G
Shallots 20G
Watermelon 1 Piece
Lemon 2 Pieces
Mozzarella 250G
Cream 150G
Milk 100G
Basil 100G
Olive oil 100ML
Agar Agar 2G
Chardonnay vinegar 20ML
Sugar 150G
Water 0.5L
White vinegar 0.3L
Yellow Mustard seed 1TSPN
Black pepper (whole) 1TSPN
Salt
Pepper
Crab Meat Mix
Mix the crab meat and 80g of mozzarella with 50g of basil and 20g of shallot. All finely chopped. Add the juice of lemon and its zest.
Season with salt and pepper .
Keep refrigerated until use.
Watermelon Crowns
Cut four circles of watermelon, one for each guest. Marinated the watermelon crowns in 70 ml of olive oil, 2 table spoon of chardonnay vinegar and the juice of 2 lemons, for 2 hours.
Dry the watermelons crowns using drying paper and burn the top part using a blow torch or sear it on a smoking hot pan. Keep refrigerated until use.
Mozzarella Syphon
In a pot simmer 150g of cream, 100g of the milk with the rest left of basil and 200g of mozzarella in big chunks.
Simmer for 5 minutes, add 2g of agar agar and simmer for an other five minutes
Season with salt and pepper.
Strain into a syphon and use just one whip cream bulb.
Keep refrigerated until use.
Watermelon Caramel
Blend the off cuts of the watermelon and strain the pulp with a chinois to extract the water.
Use 400g of watermelon water and add 150g of sugar.
Reduce it to a glazing consistency.
Watermelon Pickle Rinds
Prepare a brunoise with the watermelon rinds only the white part of the skin and let it pickle in the following recipe for at least 2 hours:
300ml white vinegar
500ml water
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 teasp black peppercorns
1 teasp yellow mustard seeds
Bring everything to boil and leave it to cool down before use.
Now that everything is ready it’s time to plate up the dish.
Start to put the watermelon crown on your plate and glaze it with the watermelon caramel.
In the middle of the crown you can put a nice amount of the mozzarella syphon it needs to get over the top of the crown.
Quenelle the crab preparation on two sides of the crown and garnish it the pickle rinds.
Garnish it with some brioche croutons, radish and micro herbs to give taste and texture.
Don’t forget to sprinkle some flaky salt on it before serving.
-- Christophe Carrisan, La Fourchette
