Crab mondeghini

Italian-Australian chef Alessandro Pavoni shares his recipe for a seafood update on a northern Italian-style meatball.

📝 Ingredients

• 100 gm panko crumbs
• 75 gm rice flour
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• Sicilian green olives, grissini and lemon wedges, to serve
• Herb mayonnaise
• 100 gm mayonnaise
• 2 cups (loosely packed) soft herbs (parsley, basil and dill)
• Filling
• 1 small sebago potato (about 150gm), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 180 gm picked uncooked spanner crab meat
• 130 gm (2 cups) fresh breadcrumbs
• 30 gm finely grated parmesan
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp each finely chopped parsley and dill

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 11: For herb mayonnaise, combine all ingredients in a deep bowl or jug; using a hand-held blender, blend until smooth and season to taste.
2. 22: For filling, place potato in a small saucepan, cover with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer until potato is tender (12-14 minutes). Drain; cover with a clean tea towel to steam dry (2 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and mash with a fork. Cover and set aside to cool completely (20 minutes). Stir though remaining ingredients and ¾ tsp sea salt flakes to combine.
3. 33: Divide filling into 40gm portions and shape into mondeghini. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place panko and rice flour in separate shallow bowls. Gradually whisk in 110ml water into bowl with rice flour until mixture is smooth. Dip mondeghini in rice flour slurry, then press into crumbs, coating evenly. Return to lined baking tray until ready to fry.
4. 44: Half-fill a large saucepan with oil. Place over medium heat until oil reaches 170°C on a deep-frying thermometer. Deep-fry mondeghini, in batches, turning occasionally, until golden (4-5minutes; be careful as hot oil may spit). Drain on paper towel and season with sea salt flakes.
5. 55: Serve mondeghini with mayonnaise for dipping, and olives, grissini and lemon wedges on the side.