Hearts of Palm Lasagna and Langoustines
Heart of palm slices are sauteed and stacked with dressed heart of palm julienne and langoustine tails (or prawns, if you prefer). The stacks are accompanied by a simple lime-butter sauce. The langoustine butter mentioned in the recipe is a compound butter; langoustine heads are crushed and cooked in butter, and then the mixture is strained and clarified. Regular butter may be substituted.
Ingredients
- Fresh Heart of Palm - 1 whole, about 1 pound
- Virgin olive oil - 1/4 cup
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- Poppy Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Lime Sauce
- Juice of 2 limes
- Fish stock - 2 tablespoons
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Creme Fraiche - 3 tablespoons
- Unsalted Butter - 5 ounces (1-1/4 sticks), cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
- Curry-infused olive oil - 1-1/2 tablespoons
- Langoustine Tails - 12, or 12 large prawns
- Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
- Snap peas - 12, blanched
- Clarified Langoustine Butter - 1 tablespoon
- Basil-infused Extra-virgin olive oil - 1 tablespoon
Instructions
To prepare the heart of palm: Trim the heart of palm into a block, saving the trimmings. Using a mandoline or V-slicer, cut 28 very thin slices of heart of palm. Cut the remaining heart of palm and trimmings into fine julienne and toss with 1-1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lime juice, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. Cover and chill in the refrigerator.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a large non-stick saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat and saute the heart of palm slices until lightly browned. Push the 4 largest slices to one side. Remove the other 24 slices and drain on paper towels. Continue sauteing the remaining 4 slices until well browned. Remove and drain on paper towels.
To make the sauce: Cook the lime juice and fish stock over medium-high heat until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the creme fraiche, reduce the heat to medium, and cook again until reduced by half. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Adding a few pieces at a time, whisk the butter into the developing sauce; whisk each addition just until incorporated, then add the next pieces. Lift the pan from time to time to prevent the sauce from becoming too hot and breaking. If the sauce breaks -- bright yellow streaks of melted butter appear -- remove the sauce from the heat immediately and vigorously whisk in several pieces of butter until the sauce recombines. Season with salt and pepper; set aside and keep warm; an insulated container works well. Do not allow it to become too warm.
To prepare the langoustines: Put the curry-infused oil in a shallow bowl and add the langoustine tails or prawns; turn to coat and let marinate for 10 minutes. Heat the plain olive oil in a medium saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the tails or prawns just until firm and beginning to brown, 8 to 12 minutes, depending on size. If you are using langoustines, saute the claws at the same time to use as garnish. Take the tails and claws or prawns out of the pan and drain on paper towels. Return the pan to the heat and saute the peas until lightly browned on both sides. Remove and drain on paper towels.
To serve: Lay 3 snap peas in a gentle curve in the center of each serving plate. For each plate, overlap three of the lightly browned slices of palm so that they partially cover the peas. Top with a langoustine tail or prawn and a small mound of palm julienne. Repeat: three overlapped palm slices, tail or prawn, and julienne. Top with one of the well-browned slices to finish the stack. Position a langoustine tail or prawn beside the snap peas. Spoon lime sauce around the snap peas. Drizzle with langoustine butter and basil-infused olive oil. Garnish with sauteed langoustine claws (optional).
