Sweet • Sour • Savory

Sweet • Sour • Savory

Food blog on scandinavian style food done right.

Grilled Oysters

Appetizer, BBQ, Dinner, Fish & seafoodComment
Grilled Oysters

Grilled Oysters

I went on a weekend getaway with my hubby. We went to Tomales Bay north of San Francisco. I love getting out of the city, away to small-town USA. Just a few hours driving takes you into the country side. Point Reyes Station is a small town with all the things you need. A few stores, a hole in the wall coffee shop (Toby's coffee bar makes very good lattes!) and a handful of restaurants using mainly local ingredients. 

I hadn't done my research properly, I know that now. I totally missed that we were going to cheese-country, but more about cheese in another post.

The view

The view

The real reason for this trip was to go back to Hog Island Oyster Farm. We went there last year and both of us have been craving their grilled oysters ever since. I know we could get our fix in downtown San Francisco, but it would not be the same. There is something special about sitting on wooden benches eating oysters while enjoying the beautiful view of Tomales Bay.

We brought some oysters back with us. I wanted to try to make these scrumptious grilled oysters at home. And my, oh my, oh my - the home grilled oyster was just as tasty as the ones at Hog Island Oyster Company.

serves 3-4

Ingredients:

  • 12 oysters (small oyster from Hog Island Oyster Company or any local oysters)

  • 1 lemon

Butter:

  • ½ stick (55 g) salted butter, cold

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar

  • 2 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey

  • 2-3 tablespoons chopped chipotle chilies in adobo-sauce

  • 1 sprinkle of salt

  • 2-3 garlic cloves

And:

  • 1 knife for shucking the oyster (I used a Dexter-Russell)

  • salt for the serving plate

Direction:

Dissolve the sugar in the bourbon/whiskey. Add all ingredients to the a food-processor and mix until you have a smooth paste. Chill the butter until semi firm.

At the grill:

Heat your grill to a medium heat (400℉/200℃)

Shuck the oysters like in this video.

Place about ½ teaspoon of the butter in the open oyster and place them on the grill. Close the lid and peak a few times for the butter to melt and the liquid to start bubbling, let the oysters bubble away for about a minutes. Remove from the grill and let them cool for a brief moment before eating.

Seafood Tacos

Dinner, Fish & seafoodComment
Seafood Tacos

Seafood Tacos

For the longest time I have been avoiding fish tacos. Why? I really don't know, for me tacos was filled with ground beef, and there was no need to change that. Wrong! By adding seafood to tacos a new world of possibilities openes up.

Tacos are easy to make, basically you need some greens, protein and salsa. This time I opted for poached Petrale sole filets and smoked shrimps.

This is my version:

Serves 2.

Ingredients

  • 2 petrale filets, poached
  • 4-6 small tortilla, heated
  • 6 smoked shrimps, I found smoked chipotle shrimps in my local Whole Foods Market
  • a few handful greens or Napa cabbage, finely chopped
  • 2 grilled corn ears, and cut of the cob
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • mango/habanero salsa
  • guacamole
  • salt
  • lemon pepper
  • white wine, enough to cover the skillet with about 1 cm

Directions

Make the guacamole and salsa.

Make sure there are no bones in the filets. Season them with salt and lemon pepper. Add white wine to a skillet and bring it to a slow simmer, put the fillets in the pan and poach it until its white and opaque, about 4-5 minutes. You can use more spices in the poaching liquid, but I wanted the delicate flavor of the fish to shine through.

Heat the tortilla and assemble the tacos and serve with a slaw, salsa and guacamole.

Enjoy!