Oyster recipe (with chilli, ginger & rice wine vinegar) | Sea food recipes & starters

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oysters with chilli, ginger and rice wine vinegar

oysters with chilli, ginger and rice wine vinegar

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Oysters are funny old things. Now they’re considered a decadent aphrodisiac, when only 100 years ago they were the pigeons of the sea and would be chucked into pies as peasant food. Aphrodisiac? I’m not sure, but I do seem to have acquired a taste for them over the last 3 years.

I’ve eaten oysters all round the world and everyone seems to think that theirs are the best – well, I’ll join the patriotic club and say that the best oysters I’ve ever eaten in my life are West Mersea Essex native oysters, sometimes known as Colchester oysters, along with some West Irish oysters that have a beautiful iron and subtle seawatery taste. The oysters directly from West Mersea are fantastic because they are farmed a couple of miles down the estuary where Maldon sea salt comes from. The nutrients from the marshland are leached out when the rain falls on it and are later drained into the estuary, so it’s a fantastically nutritious area. I’ll always go for small oysters because, quite frankly, I can’t handle the big ones.

You can get your fishmonger to open the oysters for you or you can freshly shuck (open) them with a small knife or oyster-shucker, using a tea towel to hold them (see pictures opposite), eat them the day that you buy them and serve them on some ice cubes that you’ve bashed up in a tea towel.

Finely grate ½ a thumb-sized piece of peeled ginger and mix with 6 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1 finely chopped and deseeded red chilli and a little finely sliced fresh coriander. Stir in a teaspoon of sugar until dissolved. Serve in a dish with the oysters.

• from Happy Days with the Naked Chef

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13 comments

1. Andy Crofts Sat 12 Dec 2009 @ 14:25 Oysters as an aphrodisiac? No way.
I had 6 last night, and only 3 of them worked.

2. Ian Carter Fri 27 Feb 2009 @ 03:56 Always a great show Jamie ...
but don't forget our incredible Malpeque Bay Oysters from Prince Edward Island in Canada! These tasty bivalves have been harvested for centuries and are worthy of a show to themselves ... looking forward to your visit!

Best Wishes
Ian

3. Oyster Lady Sun 22 Feb 2009 @ 19:42 This recipe looks great and I will be trying it out - thanks. I reckon Scottish oysters are the best - but as I am an oyster farmer on the west coast of Scotland I would say that! I would like to reply to 'fred osbourne' - we farm the pacific oyster and they take three years to get to market size - that is a lot of looking after. We don't just throw the baby oysters in the sea and come back three years later - they are put into bags and strapped to tables that sit on the sea-bed. We drive out on tractors at low tide and work hard - turning the bags so that the oysters don't grow into each other, take bags to the shore - grade the oysters so that similiar sizes stay together, remove any starfish or crabs that have managed to sneak into the bags etc etc. It is very hard work! Pacific oysters do not naturally reproduce in our waters so we have to buy the baby oysters from either of two hatcheries.

And if you would like to buy cheaper oysters visit your fishmonger or farmer's market (I attend two in Scotland) and shuck them yourself at home.

4. Lindsey Tue 17 Feb 2009 @ 11:37 This was an awesome starter on Saturday night, my partner had never had oysters and I had only had them in a restaurant so never shucked them myself. After watching a video on you tube on shucking I found it really easy! We both loved it!

5. Gray Thu 12 Feb 2009 @ 18:57 The best Oysters I have tasted came from Quiberon in France. The Bay on the South side of the Peninsula is just one huge Oyster bed and they are sold daily in the markets around there
Have eaten them as in your chilli and ginger recipe now for 3 years can't get enough also when I'm having a fresh tuna steak one or two cooked on the top too is scrummy

6. craig kinney Tue 10 Feb 2009 @ 22:54 Try Maine oysters, they are wonderful and reflect the clean refreshing coast.

7. biitch69 Mon 09 Feb 2009 @ 01:25 hey jamie as u no i want to become a chef and i have always wondered wat to do with oysters and this might just be a great dish thanx

cassie

8. Israel Oliveira from Brazil Sat 07 Feb 2009 @ 18:54 Hi Jamie,
I would like to know about a recepie with fish,olive,arthicoke,wine,the one you show on tv ...do you remember?
cheers mate

9. mezelf Sat 07 Feb 2009 @ 15:38 HOI IK BEN MEZELF!

10. julia valdock Fri 06 Feb 2009 @ 01:43 jamie your amazing i just love watching any and all you shows , what you are doing with the young aspiring chefs is just terrific we need more great folk like yourself keep up the good work , blessing for you and you family, regards julia from saskatchewan , canada

11. Lindsey Thu 05 Feb 2009 @ 15:46 Hi Jamie,
This sounds like the perfect starter for Valentines, but how many oysters per person would you suggest?
Many thanks
Lindsey from Bewdley

12. fred osborne Wed 04 Feb 2009 @ 22:14 Firstly,since apart from the innitial husbandry concerning the farming of Oysters? And like other sea-food? Why is it so bloody expensive to buy; for the ordinary folk of whom look upon such delicacies as a rare treat! Moreover,and whilst the average farmer,has to wait around 18 months for the prime beasts for slaughter to fatten up---put meat on the carcass--and with the price of cattle fodder to be added to the already prohibitive costs! Why then is most seafood, as costing as much and often more by comparison,when fish--oysters and the like fend for themselves? Ok! wages for the fishermen.and other costs incurred,but farm.or four legged creatures incurre, in most cases, more expence!

13. Tracy Wed 04 Feb 2009 @ 21:05 Hi Jamie,

Just love the show, love what u do for the kids, and the recipes are great. ive made this one with the oysters b4 and its fresh and lovely and has real bright flavours. I too cant handle the bigoysters- do try the local Fanny Bay oysters from BC canada- thats where im from and since you said w all think our own are the best- give these a go, u wont be sorry unless u dont try them
thanks love- cheers to u and the missus
Tracy in BC