Tempura coastal herbs, whipped goat's cheese, Isle of Wight honey and a toasted hemp and hazelnut crumb

  • Side
  • 4
  • 1 hour 30 minutes
Not yet rated

Harriet Mansell recommends serving this dish as a starter, and told us it pairs particularly well with a Mermaid gin and tonic. It would also be good as part of a sharing platter. She uses a very light tempura batter to allow the aroma of the samphire and flower buds to come through.

First published in 2024

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Goat's cheese

  • 250g of Rosary Farm goat's cheese
  • 150g of crème fraîche
  • 12g of lemon juice
  • 10g of water
  • 3 pinches of salt

Hazelnut and hemp seed crumb

Tempura Alexanders and Rock Samphire

  • 70g of gluten-free flour
  • 100g of sparkling water
  • 8 alexanders flower heads, heads only
  • 4 handfuls of rock samphire
  • vegetable oil, for deep-frying

To serve:

Method

1

For the whipped goat's cheese, simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth and then adjust the seasoning to taste

  • 250g of Rosary Farm goat's cheese
  • 150g of crème fraîche
  • 12g of lemon juice
  • 10g of water
  • 3 pinches of salt
2

For the hazelnut and hemp seed crumb, first preheat the oven to 180°C

3

Roast the hazelnuts and hemp seeds on a baking sheet for 7–8 minutes or until toasted and brown

4

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Place the nuts and seeds in a food processor and pulse until you have a coarse crumb

5

Pick the leaves off the thyme and roughly chop them with a knife to slightly break them down. Add the leaves to the nuts

6

Using a microplane, zest in the lemon, garlic and a pinch of flaky sea salt to taste. Set aside until ready to serve

7

Once ready to fry the greens, whisk together the flour and water for the tempura batter, then transfer to the fridge to chill 

  • 70g of gluten-free flour
  • 100g of sparkling water
8

Add enough vegetable oil for deep-frying the herbs in a heavy, high sided pot, and heat to 160°C

  • vegetable oil, for deep-frying
9

Stir the batter up and then add a few of the herbs to the batter

10

Mix, then pick up each herb and allow any excess batter to drop off before frying in the hot oil

11

Once the herbs are crisp, remove from the oil and drain on a tray lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with sea salt and repeat with the remaining greens, making sure to stir the batter up between each batch

12

Place a good spoonful of the goat's cheese mix on each plate and spread out with the spoon into a circle

13

Add the fried leaves on top, drizzle with a teaspoon of the honey and scatter the toasted nut and seed mix on top

Following years spent working on yachts as a private chef, Harriet Mansell returned to South West England, where she grew up, to open her own restaurants. She imaginatively showcases her love of wild food, which has developed over the course of her career.

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