This is a lovely dish, especially in winter; the warm, wheaty, bready, nutty flavour of the tarator (a sauce commonly found throughout the Middle East); texture-wise, it’s somewhere between hummus and mayo), the fragrant, citric taste and subtly chewy texture of the quinoa, and the rich, resiny, lemony crunch of the lobster’s crust all sit incredibly well together. The lemon jellies on the side give it a gorgeously exotic touch too. A few years ago, we were given a jar of sun dried lemons, and it sat unused in a cupboard until recently, when we dug it out and started fiddling with them. They have an amazing flavour, sharp and dry and resinous, and when soaked, can be chopped finely and used for all sorts of dishes. You can also bung them in a liquidiser dry, and make lemon powder, which is a great ingredient for adding a hint of rich sharpness to things like crusts for fish. We've since bought them (and dried limes) on the Edgeware Road in London, where there are many excellent Middle Eastern food shops. The jellies we've made from them here seemed an obvious accompaniment for this dish. You’ll need either one baking dish that the two split lobster tails will fit snugly in, or we use small individual ones

The Tarator:-

1 thick slice white sourdough bread, crusts removed

200g pine nuts

100mls ground nut oil

juice of ½ a lemon

zest of a lemon

1 clove garlic, very finely chopped (very optional)

50 – 100mls water on standby

The Quinoa:-

150g quinoa

4 small dried preserved lemons, soaked till soft in 150mls of water. Squeeze the water out of them, and set it aside for the jellies (see below), then chop the rehydrated lemons very finely indeed.

juice of ½ a lemon

150g plum tomatoes, skinned, seeded and finely chopped

medium sized handful of flat leafed parsley, coarsely chopped

The Dried Lemon Jellies:-

50 mls of the water from the lemons soaked, above

1 sheet gelatin or agar agar

½ tsp sugar

The lobster:-

2 large lobster tails, shelled and split in half

1 tsp sumac

½ tsp salt

4 tbspns breadcrumbs

50g butter

To serve:-

1 bag baby spinach, or rocket, or mizuma

To make the Tarator:-

• Put the bread in a medium sized bowl, and pour lots of water over it. Leave it to soak for 10 minutes, then drain the water off, and squeeze the rest of the water out of the bread. Put it in a blender with the pine nuts, oil, lemon juice and garlic (if using), and whizz to a very smooth paste. It should be a mayo-like consistency, so if it’s a bit thick, whizz a little water into it. Stir in the lemon zest and season, and set aside

To make the Quinoa:-

• Put the quinoa into a medium sized saucepan, and pour enough water in to cover it by about 3cm. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a bare simmer, and let bubble gently for 10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add the chopped preserved lemons, the chopped tomatoes, the parsley, and the lemon juice. Season and set aside, keeping warm

To make the Dried Lemon Jellies:-

• Soak the gelatine for 10 minutes

• Meanwhile warm through the remaining lemon water, adding the sugar. When the gelatin is soft, add it to the lemon water and stir till completely dissolved. Then pour into little shallow moulds and refrigerate for at least 3 hours

To cook the lobster:-

• Preheat your oven to 220C. Meanwhile, mix the breadcrumbs, sumac and salt in a bowl, then spread on a plate. Once the oven is up to temperature, melt the butter in a hot frying pan and fry the split lobster tails for 30 seconds on each side. Take out of the pan and put on the breadcrumbs. Roll them around till they’re well coated with crumbs, and put them in your baking dish(es). Pour the remaining butter over them, then any crumbs left on the plate. Put in the oven, and set your timer for 8 minutes

To dress your plates:-

• Put either a neat pile of quinoa on each one, or use steel rings to make towers. Place a small blob of tarator and a blob of the lemon jelly on top of the quinoa, place half a lobster tail alongside, another blob of tarator and another blob of the lemon jelly, arrange some leaves artfully around them and serve