Recipes - Bouterey's Restaurant

Seasonal treats from the winner of the Smart Dining Award at the recent Cuisine Restaurant of the Year Awards | By Matt Bouterey

Goats Cheese Balloon

Ingredients - Serves 1
40-45gm goats cheese (organic)
2 spring roll sheets
1 organic acid free tomato – blanched & skinned, then sliced on plate in circle
Basil leaves
Japanese breadcrumbs

Method
Place 1 spring roll wrapper on bottom, goats cheese on top, spring roll sheet on top, stick with egg yolk and then deep-fry, slowly spooning oil over the top so it rises.

Herb Oil
Blend ½ pkt Japanese breadcrumbs with one large bunch of basil until fully incorporated (the colour should be a nice bright green). Remove from blender, spread out on tray until dry then pass through fine chinois, then add double the amount of grapeseed oil to the passed crumbs, let stand overnight. Give it a good stir and pour into a squeezy bottle.

To Assemble
Slice tomato on plate, put salad garnish on top (e.g. rocket), then place the goats cheese balloon on top of the salad. Pour over herb oil and sticky balsamic vinegar and finish with deep fried crisp basil leaves.

Nelson Whitebait Fritters

Ingredients - Serves 6
450gm Nelson whitebait
Zest of 1 lime or lemon
1Tbs chopped chervil
2tsp chopped chives
2 eggs
Good amount of Marlborough sea salt (whitebait likes salt!)
Optional: finely chopped red chilli, grated fresh ginger

Method
Place all ingredients into a bowl and gently mix together.

Divide into 6 portions, heat a little bit of grapeseed oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat, and when hot, add two of the whitebait portions on either side of the pan to keep them separated.

Cooked for approx 1 minute on each side, remove from pan and keep warm.

Repeat.

As an optional garnish you can serve with steamed mussels or marinated mussels.

I personally like this with a micro salad made with fresh baby watercress, baby beet leaves, chervil sprigs and coriander just starting to flower  – all tossed together with a little bit of lemon and good Nelson extra virgin olive oil.