Recipe Sunshine Salad

[Morning Glory]

Made this a few months ago and have only just got round to writing up the recipe. Looking at this plate of sunshine has cheered me up on a snowy grey February day. You can make this with green courgettes, of course. The yellow ones don’t taste any different, they just look prettier in this salad.

Ingredients (serves 2)
For the crab and pineapple:
200g crabmeat
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
Salt to taste
3 to 5 pieces of fresh pineapple

For the quail’s eggs:
3 to 5 hard boiled quails eggs
1 tsp ground turmeric

For the pickled courgette:
1 yellow courgette
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp mirin
1/4 tsp saly

To finish:
Marigold petals
Annatto oil

Method
Prepare the quail’s eggs and courgettes the day before you want to serve this salad:

1. Peel the quail’s eggs. The easiest way to do this is to immerse them in vinegar and leave until the shell is partially dissolved. The shell then peels off quite easily.
2. Place warm some warm water in a beaker and add the turmeric. Stir until the turmeric is dissolved the add the peeled quail’s eggs. Leave overnight.
3. Cut the courgette into thin ribbons. The easiest way to do this is with a speed peeler (Y shaped peeler).
4. Mix together the rice vinegar, mirin and salt. Place the courgette ribbons in a bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over them. Mix gently. Leave to marinate overnight.
5. Place the crab in a bowl. Place the grated ginger on a piece of kitchen paper or cheesecloth. Squeeze to extract the ginger juice onto the crab. Mix well and add salt to taste.
6. Char the pineapple pieces. I use a culinary blowtorch which will do the job in seconds.
7. Remove the quail’s eggs from the turmeric solution, pat dry and cut each in half across the diameter.
8. Remove the courgette slices from the marinade.
9. Assemble the crab, pineapple, courgettes and eggs on the serving plates, draping and curling the courgette ribbons around the other ingredients.
10. Drizzle over a little annatto oil and garnish with marigold petals.