Roast Langoustines With Miso, Coffee, Grilled Pineapple And Szechuan Pepper

To celebrate the launch of Nespresso’s exclusive new flagship London Boutique on Regent Street, the pioneers for premium portioned coffee have partnered with two-Michelin-starred chef and coffee-lover, Phil Howard, to create a series of recipes inspired by their quality Grands Crus.

“I’ve always thought of coffee as a fascinating ingredient” says Phil.  “I love drinking it and my scientific background has made me very curious about how to match it with other foods.  The common misconception is that coffee only works in sweet dishes like Tiramisu, but actually, it can be a fantastic, versatile element in sauces, marinades, stocks and even crusts, bringing out the strong flavours of the other ingredients in each dish.  Through experimenting during my recipe development, I was surprised to discover that you can pair coffee with shellfish, as shown in my recipe for Roast langoustines with miso, coffee, grilled pineapple and Szechuan pepper.

Here is the recipe so you can try this magnificent dish yourself at home and impress friends and partners.

INGREDIENTS
30 extra-large langoustine tails, peeled and raw.
Or large peeled, raw prawns
400ml white miso
400ml BBQ dressing – see below
200ml serving of Nespresso Finezzo Lungo
1 large raw pineapple
2 limes, juice and zest – separate
1 punnet coriander cress
4 ripe avocados
1 tbsp. vegetable oil Szechuan peppercorns

For the BBQ Dressing
70g Dijon mustard
140g honey
100ml light soy sauce
100ml tomato ketchup
100ml vegetable oil
1 chilli, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
40g ginger, very finely grated
200ml orange juice
2 oranges, zest

METHOD
To make the BBQ dressing, place all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine. Take 400ml of the BBQ dressing and whisk it together with the miso. Add the coffee, whisk again and pour onto the langoustines or prawns. Set aside in the fridge, covered, to marinate for 12 hours.

To make the avocado puree, peel the avocados, place them into a food processor add the lime juice and a generous pinch of salt and blend to a smooth puree. Transfer to a bowl and set aside covered in the fridge.

Cut the skin off the pineapple, slice it into 10 slices and remove the core from the centre of each slice with an apple corer. Brush the pineapple with the oil, grate the lime zest evenly over the slices and using a pepper mill, grind the Szechuan pepper over the slices. Place the pineapple under a hot grill and cook until the edges start to blacken. Set aside at room temperature.

TO SERVE
Drain any excess marinade from the langoustines. Place two large heavy based frying pans over a high heat and leave for one minute. Divide the langoustine tails between the two pans and sauté for one minute. Place the pans under a hot grill and grill for a further two minutes. Remove from the grill, and simply serve the langoustines with some avocado puree, a small green salad and the grilled pineapple.

Garnish with the coriander cress. This dish should be served warm, not hot.

Grand Crus notes: A delicate marriage of East African and South and Central American Arabicas that have been lightly roasted, Finezzo Lungo is a very aromatic coffee with mild fragrant notes of jasmine.