Recipe: Cheong Liew’s Lightly Grilled Abalone Salad with Abalone Liver Dressing

Recipe: Cheong Liew’s Lightly Grilled Abalone Salad with Abalone Liver Dressing

Ingredients (4 servings):

  • 4 pieces Pure Australian Frozen Green lip Abalone, defrosted in the refrigerator overnight
  • 4 shimeji mushrooms
  • 4 small slippery jack mushrooms or small Swiss brown mushrooms
  • 4 small pine mushrooms
  • 1 heritage beetroot, thinly sliced and pickled in vinegar
  • 4 quail eggs, soft boiled for 2 minutes and peeled
  • 8 baby wild rocket leaves
  • 8 paper thin slices of Buddha’s hand citron, blanched
  • 4 thin slices of Lotus root (peeled), blanched and pickled in vinegar
  • Micro herbs and flowers to garnish

Abalone liver mustard dressing

  • 2 pieces abalone livers
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 60 ml sake
  • 60 ml crème fraiche
  • 100 ml mineral water
  • Tabasco sauce to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Green spring onion Jus dressing (blend the following ingredients together and strain through a fine sieve)

  • 1 bunch spring onions (use the green stalks only)
  • 6 leaves of rockets
  • 15 basil leaves
  • 80ml spring water
  • 50ml EV olive oil

Preparation:

Abalone liver mustard dressing

  • In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the liver for 2 seconds
  • Add in crème fraiche and sake and lightly stir until the mixture is heated through for a few seconds. Remove the saucepan from the heat, season with salt, pepper, and tabasco.
  • Pour the mixture into a blender (or into a bowl if using a hand blender), add in the mineral water and Dijon mustard, and blend until smooth and creamy. Pass through a fine sieve.

Grill the abalone and mushrooms

  • Pre-heat grill to high. Brush mushrooms with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the mushrooms on the grill top until light brown
  • Remove the caps of the abalone to make the meat an even thickness. Score shallow diagonal cuts on the surface of the abalone meat.
  • Place the abalone meat on the grill top, scored side down, for 1 minute. Grill the flip side for 30 seconds.
  • Slice the abalone in 5mm thick pieces and arrange on a serving plate. Arrange the mushrooms, all the other ingredients, and garnishes. Spoon the liver mustard dressing and green Jus over the salad.

Cheong Liew

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mr.Cheong Liew moved to Melbourne in 1969 to study electrical engineering, but his passion for food quickly took over. Apart from emphasizing Malay and Chinese cuisine, what set Chef Cheong apart was his willingness to use rarely-touched ingredients such as whole ducks, pigs feet and even heads. He then went on to open and operate The Grange Restaurant at the Hilton Hotel in Adelaide from 1995 - 2009. On top of culinary accolades, he was dubbed “one of the hottest chefs alive” by American Food & Wine Magazine and inducted into Murdoch Magazine’s Hall of Fame at the 1999 World Food Media Awards.