Spanner Crab and Egg Yolk Rice

Ingredients

Slow-cooked egg yolks

8 organic eggs, at room temperature
200 g (7 oz) clarified butter

Toasted aonori

10 g (¼ oz) aonori

Aonori-salted puffed sushi rice

3 g (1/10 oz) flaked sea salt
3 g (1/10 oz) toasted aonori (see above)
0.5 g (1/50 oz) yuzu kosho powder
1.25 g (1/25 oz) Japanese hot mustard powder
60 g (2¼ oz) puffed sushi rice

To serve

100 g (3½ oz) unsalted butter, diced
400 g (14 oz) picked spanner crab meat
12 organic egg yolks
320 g (11¼ oz) cooked sushi rice
½ bunch tarragon, chopped
flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
32 Japanese land seaweed sprigs

Method

Slow cooked egg yolks

Heat a circulating water bath (or a saucepan filled with water) to 62.5°C (145°F) . Add the eggs and cook for 1 hour. Remove the eggs from the water bath and leave to cool at room temperature.

Gently warm the clarified butter in a saucepan to 45°C(115°F). Crack the eggs and remove the egg yolks without breaking them. Place the egg yolks in the clarified butter and maintain the temperature at 45°C (115°F) until required.

Toasted aonori

Dry-toast the aonori in a frying pan over medium heat for 20–30 seconds. Set aside to cool.

Aonori -salted puffed sushi rice

Grind the sea salt using a mortar and pestle. Add the aonori, yuzu and mustard powder and grind into a fine powder.

Season the puffed sushi rice with the aonori salt mixture to taste. Use as much or as little as you like—the saltier the rice the better, as the crab is very rich.

To serve

(This recipe is best done in two pans for a more even cooking.)

Using two large frying pans or risotto pans, heat the butter over medium heat until it melts and bubbles. Divide the crab meat between the two pans so that it covers the base of the pans.

Sauté the crab over medium heat for 2 minutes or until about two-thirds cooked—the crab meat will still be a little opaque.

Remove the pans from the heat, add 6 yolks to each and gently break up using a spatula.

Place the pans back over medium heat and let the yolks spread over the crab meat—like making an omelette. Once the eggs are half-cooked, remove from the heat and, using the spatula, turn over the egg so that small ribbons form.

Place the pans back over the heat and cook for a further few seconds so that the crab is just cooked and the egg is still slightly soft. Divide the cooked sushi rice between the pans and gently separate the grains with a spatula. Fold through the tarragon and
season to taste.

Spoon the crab and egg yolk rice into each bowl, leaving a small indent in the centre. Drain the slow-cooked egg yolks and place in the centre of the rice. Place 4 sprigs of the Japanese land seaweed around each egg yolk. Sprinkle with aonori salted puffed sushi rice, and dust the toasted aonori around the plate.

Serve immediately.

Credits: 'Sepia; The Cuisine of Martin Benn' Published by Murdoch Books

Photo Credits: Recipes and Images from Sepia: The Cuisine of Martin Benn (Murdoch Books) RRP $75 , available now