LANGOUSTINE & CHARDONNAY

Steps:

• For langoustines:
• Separate the head from the tail and reserve the heads. Using kitchen shears, carefully cut the shell on the underside of the tail up to the last section before the "fins". You want to leave this on because it will protect the thinner part of the tail meat from over cooking. Discard the shell fragments and wrap and refrigerate the cleaned tails immediately.
• For shellfish butter:
• Preheat oven to 300F. Put the heads in a roasting pan. Slowly roast at 300F until dry (about 15 minutes). Add butter, let it melt until it has foamed, but before the milk solids begin to brown (noisette) and add water. Let cook for 2 hours at 200F. Strain in a bowl, let it congeal in the refrigerator and separate the butter from the water. Discard the remaining water. Melt the butter and strain through cheese cloth. Yields about 3 oz.
• For langoustine broth:
• In a saute pan over medium heat, slowly saute the langoustine heads with the shellfish butter. Pour the chicken stock, cook slowly. Skim the surface of the broth. Let cook for about an hour. Strain the broth through cheesecloth. Yields about 1 1/2 cups.
• For the Chardonnay reduction:
• Cut the onions in quarters, dice the quince, and simmer slowly in a pot with 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. The vegetables shouldn't take on any color. Add the grapefruit zest, vanilla seed and pepper. Pour the wine and the langoustine broth; reduce quickly on the stove. When the liquid has been halved, add the remaining butter. Continue until the sauce reaches a desired consistency (about 15 minutes). Add the chili and mint; let them infuse for a few minutes and strain the sauce. Reserve for final assembly of the dish.
• For the salsify:
• Peel the salsify and slice into two inch pieces on the bias. Season with salt and olive oil. In a saute pan, add half the duck fat; pan fry the salsify, add the chicken stock and butter. Cook quickly on the stove. Reduce the stock completely and remove the salsify. Heat a clean frying pan until its very warm, pour the remaining duck fat, and roast the salsify until it has a golden color. Season with pepper and "fleur de sel." Reserve on the side until you are ready to plate the dish.
• For the truffle dressing:
• Mix all the ingredients together; macerate the basil (whole leaves) in the vinaigrette. Season the broccoli sprouts with the truffle vinaigrette right before serving.
• Final assembly:
• All of the ingredients are served warm with the exception of the broccoli sprouts. Make sure that you have all of the components of the dish ready for plating before you cook the shellfish and salsify and sauce are warm and broccoli sprouts are dressed with the vinaigrette. When you are ready to serve, heat a saucepan, add the remaining shellfish butter and place the seasoned shellfish in the pan. After about 1 minute, turn the shellfish over and finish cooking (2 to 3 minutes).
• Presentation:
• Arrange the salsify around the plate. Put the langoustine tails on top (tail out) and the dressed broccoli sprouts in the center of the plate. Spoon Chardonnay reduction over langoustine tails and serve immediately.