Recipe: Posh Salad

Salade tiede des langoustines au beurre de truffes

This is a stunningly delicious, and very simple recipe, but can be a bit expensive due to the inclusion of truffles. I used to make it alot in Spain, where you can get cheap black truffles. You don't need alot of truffle anyway, just shavings will do. Would be a great starter at a dinner party, particularly with xmas around the corner, is a good dish to impress too.
(BTW gents, I have never seen a woman eat this sauce without almost melting at the table.)

So...

Some lovely langoutines, gambas, big prawns whatever you can get.
Good mixed salad leaves, preferably young
About a teaspoon (or so) chopped truffle, or chopped truffle peelings. Chop quite finely (brunoise)
2 shallots
200g butter - UNsalted, cold, and chopped into little cubes.
About 120ml vermouth (Martini, Noilly Prat or if I suppose you could use white wine at a push)

Wash the leaves if needed, and arrange a few on the middle of each plate. Large white plates as always. The leaves should be nice, not those craggy biuts of stalk and rubbish you buy in "mixed salad" bags in supermarkets.

The next bit is the prawns or langoustine (or half a lobster per person if you are loaded). Now, the "tiede" bit in the recipe title means lukewarm. Our sauce is gonna be a warm sauce, but the prawns themselves could be served cold. It depends if you have them fresh, or cooked when you buy them. Fresh prawns or langoustine sofr this recipe could be simply cooked in a little water mixed with white wine, fried in some butter or grilled. Its down to taste really, but the look of the prawns may be nicer if they are cooked in liquid, as they tend to dry quickly on the grill/pan.

Whatever you choose, arrange the prawns decoratively on the salad. If you have fresh ones, you should peel some (leaving the last tail segment of shell and the tail itself in place for presentation), and server some whole, as they look great. AS there will be a buttery sauce though, you don't want to serve them all whole, its too messy.

The sauce should be done last minute.

Fry the shallots gently in very little butter until transparent. Add the vermouth, and reduce to a syrup. Basically, reduce until there is very very little left. You just boil it with no lid to do this of course.
When reduced, add the chopped truffle, stuzr, then start adding the butter.

Your instinct wil be to add it all at once. Don't. Never do that. Whisk it in a piece or two at a time, and don't add the next piece until it the last bit has fully incorporated.
You will start to see a great texture change as the sauce thickens up like a vinaigrette. When you have added all of the butter (I know its a lot, but its not often that you are gonna eat butter sauce, forget calories here) season the sauce, and using a spoon, dress the plate.

What you wanna do, is get a tablespoon or so of sauce, and pour it gently in a sort of spiral over the plate, starting in the centre, and going outwards. This will get some sauce on the salad, and also a few drops around the white empty area of the plate to look good. Sprinkle over some parsley if you like, and perhaps serve a piece of lemon.

Alternatively, chargrilled fennel pieces also works well with this sauce, so if you don't fancy prawny chaps, try fennel.
If you wanna sound poncy, call it a "Salade tiede de fenouil au beurre de truffes"

Dead easy, impressive, and delicious
Bon appetit

Sounds delicious! Glad to see your back in form.