Sunday, September 4, 2011

Crab avocado timbale

Here's something new that I've never done before.
I've seen and read the concept of Timbale before; by definition it is a dish of various ingredients baked inside a mold.
has anyone seen the movie "Big Night", where in the last scenes the chef (played by Tony Shalhoub) prepared a timbale of pasta. It actually looked like a "timbale" or drum.
These days, this concept is used to present a concoction that looks like a tiny cylindrical dish, typically made of crabmeat, scallop or fish ceviche or even just all vegetables presented cold simply on a small plate with a dressing, etc.
So, I've decided to try this:
Crab and Avocado Timbale (serves 8-10) served with cilantro drizzle
Ingredients:
1lb crabmeat (preferably backfin...lump if you can afford it)
2 avocadoes diced
2 peaches - diced
2 tomato brunoise
2 tbsp lemon/lime juice
1 bunch cilantro
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
Kosher salt to taste

Technique:
Sidebar - dicing avocadoes: cut avocado in half, using a knife, stab the pit with a knife lengthwise - twist and pull.
Score avocadoes lengthwise and horizontally, using a spoon scoop it out.
Sidebar - Tomato brunoise: cut tomato into quarters, using a paring knife peel the skin from the tomatoes and dice the skin - this is tomato brunoise. Save the core of the tomatoes to cook/prepare tomato sauce in the future.
Using a mixing bowl, mix crabmeat, avocadoes, peaches and tomato brunoise. Add lemon juice and salt to taste.

For the drizzle - cut cilantro stem and chop some of the leaves for garnish.
The majority of the leaves put into food processor with garlic and emulsify with olive oil until pasty, then runny like a pesto. Add salt to taste.

For a nice presentation, you can use either a 4/5oz ramekin to mold crab/avocado mixture then turn upside down to serve as a molded dish. Or use one of those round cookie cutters that one buy in the baker's section of a kitchen store.


Sidebar - why peaches.....mango is good to...this is to counteract the creaminess of the avocado and the fishiness of the crabmeat.






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