Santiago Lastra shares a delicious Mexican recipe that rewards prep patience. Depending on the season, the dish can be found at KOL Mezcaleria, the mezcal bar housed within the restaurant
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 9 Langoustine (clean and slice into 2 cm chunks)
- 120g – Sesame and almond mole
- 50g – Rhubarb aguachile
Rhubarb
- 1 stick – Rhubarb
- 1 Scotch bonnet without stem
- 150ml – Water
- 100g – Caster sugar
- 50ml – White wine vinegar
Method
For the rhubarb
– Gently simmer rhubarb in the solution until tender
– Let cool, peel and slice to 5cm length
–Refrigerate
Sesame and almond mole
Overall prep time: 1.5 hrs / Makes 350g
Ingredients
For the seaweed water
- 200g – Dry kelp seaweed (or kombu)
- 5 litres – Water
For the garlic paste
- 150g – Garlic (whole)
For the mole
- 80g – Sesame seeds
- 80g – Almonds whole (peeled)
- 120g – Onions
- 280ml – Seaweed water
- 1g – chilli powder
- 8g – Garlic paste
Method
For the seaweed water
–Soak the seaweed in the water for 12 hrs refrigerated
– Remove the seaweed
For the garlic paste
– Wrap the garlic in tinfoil
– Place the garlic on a tray uncovered
– Cook in the oven at 190C for 45 minutes until golden and crisp on the outside
– Should be soft to the touch
– Cut the top of the garlic off to expose the cooked cloves
– Squeeze out the garlic while warm into a bowl
– Using gloves, pass through a fine mesh sieve to remove the excess skin
– Blend until smooth
– Refrigerate
For the mole
– Cook the onion with oil until smooth but hasn’t taken on any colour
– Toast the almonds for 8 min at 180C until golden
– Toast the sesame seed for 12min at 180C
– Blend all the ingredients until smooth
– Season and refrigerate
To Finish
– Place 20g of sesame and almond mole in the bottom of a bowl in a small circle
– Place 1-2 langoustines worth of meat on top of the mole
– Top up with 7 pieces of cooked rhubarb sliced
– Finish with 10 ml of rhubarb aguachile
If you’re feeling decorative, you can finish the plate with edible flowers and herbs.
