CRUMBED AVOCADO WITH CHARRED ZUCCHINI, SNOW PEAS AND KARAMŪ VINAIGRETTE
Serves two to four
Crumbed avocado recipe:
Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan and toast the seeds until golden. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Roughly chop the seeds and mix them with the mamaku ash and salt.
Brush the avocado with a little extra virgin olive oil, then coat with the seed mixture. Cut into 2cm slices when ready to serve.
**Note: If you don’t have access to mamaku ash, you can substitute this with any kind of vegetable ash.
Charred zucchini recipe:
1 large zucchini
Flaky sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Brush the zucchini with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt. Char in a woodfire oven or on a BBQ grill until it is blackened on the outside but still raw in the middle. Once it is nicely charred, put it on a tray and place it in the fridge to fully cool.
When it has cooled, slice the charred zucchini into fine ribbons lengthways using a mandolin. Set the ribbons aside until it is time to assemble the dish.
Snow pea recipe:
Bring a small pot of water to the boil. Blanch the 100g snow peas for 40-60 seconds. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice-cold water. Transfer to a blender and add the extra virgin olive oill. Puree until smooth, then season with freshly squeezed lemon juice and salt.
Strain through a fine sieve and store in a squeeze bottle.
Cut the remaining 50g snow peas into fine slices. Blanch the snow pea slices in boiling vegetable stock for five seconds, then transfer to ice-cold water. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
Karamū vinaigrette recipe:
Put the karamū leaves in a large pot with 1 litre of water. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse until cool.
Once it has cooled, strain into a new pot and add all the remaining ingredients except the cornflour.
Set the pot on to a medium heat and boil for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, stir in the cornflour then remove from the heat.
Strain the dressing through a fine sieve into a bowl or serving jug. Place into the fridge to cool completely.
Once the dressing is complete cool, season it with salt and then it is ready to serve!
**Note: If you don’t have access to karamū vinegar, you can substitute this with good quality chardonnay vinegar or champagne vinegar. If you want to have a go at making your own karamū vinegar, the recipe is below.
Karamū vinegar recipe:
Makes 500ml
Put the berries in a clean, dry jar or bottle. Pour over the vinegar and seal.
Store in a cool, dark place at room temperature for at least three weeks to infuse.
To serve:
Put two slices of avocado on each plate and season with salt. Add three ribbons of zucchini, then pea puree, sliced snow peas, and micro herbs (for example: sorrel, purple shiso, marigold petals). Drizzle with karamū vinaigrette and serve.