Hello Recipe Club,

This week's journey into fruit and spice brings us to China - specifically into the South East region, somewhere between Canton and Shanghai styled cooking. Tropical fruits, seafood and spicy peppercorns marry to produce a simple, yet elegant salad that doesn't take much time at all to make! You can substitute shrimp or scallops for the lobster in this salad.

Lychees are one of the most luscious fruits I know of - sweet, redolent of tropical flavours and are beautiful to look at. They originate in the provinces of Kwangtung and Fukien in Southern China. Fresh are wonderful, but the canned variety are just as good, in my opinion. When buying fresh, look for firm, redskinned lychees without any white patches of mold on them. They are usually sold still on the branches, with leaves attached (did you know that lychee trees can grow up to over 40 feet tall?)

As for the Szechuan peppercorns - you might have difficulty finding it. If you do, use regular black peppercorns. The citrus and numbing tone of the Szechuan peppercorn will be absent, but the vinaigrette is still as good!

Finally, I have a New World addition here to the salad (or bar snack!) - Old Bay Walnuts. Asians like to fry and then flavour their walnuts. Here we bake them and use Old Bay seasoning for the flavour (and you thought it was just for seafood!).

Paul Silva

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Lobster Salad

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 - 1 1/4 pound lobsters, cooked
12 spears asparagus, cooked
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 bunch scallions, sliced thin
1 shallot, peeled and sliced
4 handfuls mixed greens
1/ 4 cup Old Bay Walnuts (recipe follows)
1 cup Szechuan Peppercorn and Lychee Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Preparation:

Preheat grill to high.

While grill heats, divide lobster by removing tail section and then cutting in half lengthwise. Remove the stringy piece. Rinse. Remove claws and knuckle pieces attached. Crack shells and remove meat. Rinse and pat dry.

Toss 1/4 cup of vinaigrette with the lobster pieces and asparagus in a medium-large bowl. Drain and grill the asparagus, lobster tail and claw portions until just heated through.

Remove grilled items back into bowl, add the cherry tomatoes, half the scallions, the shallot and all the mixed greens. Divide portions onto 4 plates, giving one tail half, one claw and some of the claw meat.

Garnish with the remaining scallions and Old Bay Walnuts.

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Old Bay Walnuts

Ingredients:

1/2 pound walnut halves
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seafood seasoning, ground
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Toss the walnuts, egg white, Old Bay Seasoning, brown sugar and kosher salt together in a bowl until the walnuts are completely coated.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Try to separate the walnuts so that they don't stick together.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until the walnuts have browned. Shake the baking sheet halfway to ensure they don't burn.

Remove from baking sheet and cool.

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Szechuan Peppercorn and Lychee Vinaigrette

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients:

6 large lychees, canned
1 1/2 teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns, ground
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lychee liquid from can
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grapeseed oil

Preparation:

In a blender, combine the lychees, Szechuan peppercorns, rice vinegar, lychee liquid and salt. Purée until smooth.

With the blender still running, add the grapeseed oil in slowly to emulsify.