As part of the European French butter campaign promoted by CNIEL under the European Union, Chef May Chow has created an East-meets-West recipe that incorporates a fabulous salted lemon, Chinese olive and squid ink marbled butter.
Here, Chef Chow tells us how to prepare this delicious dish to wow our family and friends.
Marbled butter
Ingredients:
- 400g unsalted butter
- 30g squid ink
- 30g preserved Chinese olives, diced
- 30g preserved lemon peel, diced
Equipment:
- 2 mixing bowls
- 2 whisks or spoons
- chopping board
- pan
- latex gloves
- skewer
- cling film
- knife
Method:
- Temper butter overnight until room temperature.
- Whisk 100g unsalted butter with the squid ink in one mixing bowl and set aside.
- Whisk 300g unsalted butter in a separate mixing bowl with the diced Chinese preserved olives and preserved lemon peel.
- On a chopping board, drop a big spoonful of the lemon-olive butter and spread into a ½ -inch-thick horizontal line that equates to being 4–5 inches long. Add a smaller spoonful of the squid-ink butter, about ½ or ¼ inch think on top, and spread across the lemon-olive butter.
- With the remaining lemon-olive butter, add the rest as the final top layer of the squid-ink butter and use the bottom of the spoon to smooth out evenly.
- Wear latex gloves for rolling the butter. Swirl an “S” line through the butter using a skewer to create marbling layers. Wrap the cling film over the layer of butter and roll the cling-film-covered butter into a tight sausage shape. Use the soft end of the knife to push the butter back in if it’s coming out of the cling film. It might get messy looking, so do your best to maintain the compressed shape and twist the ends into opposite directions.
- Chill in the fridge for 1 hour to 90 minutes. Chill before slicing and leave in the fridge once again. Do not leave the marbled butter out at room temperature or it will be difficult to slice the butter and scoop slices on top of the dish.
Cauliflower purée
Ingredients:
- 50g cauliflower
- 100g water
- 85g unsalted butter
- 3.5g salt
- 10g lemon juice
Equipment:
- saucepan
- blender
Method:
- Roughly chop the cauliflower into thin slices that are 2–3 inches thick.
- Place the cauliflower, water, butter and salt in a saucepan and cover with a lid.
- Heat on high to steam quickly, then reduce to medium and steam until the cauliflower is tender and there is only a little water left in the pot. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
- Add the cauliflower to the blender and blitz for 2 minutes.
- Add a little bit of lemon juice at a time and continue blending until smooth, with no chunks showing in the cauliflower. Set aside in a saucepan.
Soy sauce base
Ingredients:
- 100g soy sauce
- 40g dark soy sauce
- 30g brown sugar
- 850g water
Equipment:
- mixing bowl
- pot
Method:
- Combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
- In a pot, bring the mixture to a boil until the sugar has melted. The sauce should have a little texture but should not be runny. Set aside.
Lamb tenderloin
Ingredients:
- 200g lamb tenderloin
- 5g salt
- 100g soy sauce base (see above)
- 150g cauliflower purée (see above)
- 15g ginger, chopped
- 15g spring onion, chopped
- 30g cold marble butter, sliced (see above)
- 850g water
Equipment:
- frying pan
- saucepan
- mixing bowl
- chopping board
- knife
- spoons
- cooking torch (optional)
Method:
- Season the lamb tenderloin with salt on both sides. Pan-sear the lamb on one side for 4 minutes on medium-high heat and then take the lamb out of the pan and let it rest for 4 minutes on the chopping board.
- Reheat the soy sauce in a small saucepan until warm, not boiling.
- In the mixing bowl, mix 5 grams chopped ginger to 8 grams chopped spring onion. You don’t want to add too much ginger or it will be a very overpowering dish.
- Slice the lamb into thin slices at around 20g each. They should be about ¼ inch thick or slightly thinner and the centre should be pink.
- Plate the dish. In the middle of the plate, spread the cauliflower purée with the back of a spoon and make a circle around 4½ inches thick.
- Place around 8–10 slices of lamb on top of the purée. Feel free to use more to cover the majority of the cauliflower purée circle.
- Add a small drizzle of the soy glaze using a spoon. Do not use too much or drench the soy glaze on top or it will make the dish very salty and watery.
- Put the ginger and spring onion salad on top of the lamb or around the circular edges of the cauliflower purée.
- Place the cold, sliced marble butter on top of the warm lamb and either naturally let the butter melt or you can torch the butter until it’s slightly melted (do not torch the butter for too long or you will overcook the lamb).
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