WHEN I THINK OF OYSTERS, I THINK OF A WARM SUMMER EVENING IN FRANCE
The day after my graduation was a gorgeous sunny day, and I was sitting at a cafe with three of my university friends, talking about CVs and open positions.
Exploring the job opportunities in Milan was pretty depressing, and somewhere around the third Spritz Aperol, we decided to postpone the job hunting and go to on a French Riviera road trip instead.
Nice was our first stop, we found a cozy seafood place for dinner and ordered oysters. Almost all of us were first-timers and soon realized that very few actually liked them.
Long story short, me and my friend Ilaria shamelessly ate them all!
Before moving to Asia I’ve only had oysters served with lemon. One thing that I love here, is that they often come with different types of dressings. I had no clue about that before. The idea of adding textures and flavors really opens up lots of new possibilities.
So I’ve been experimenting with dressings lately and here are three recipes inspired by Asian dishes and ingredients:
CHINESE CUCUMBER SALAD
ICY, CRUNCHY & SPICY
INGREDIENTS
for 10 oysters
• 1 small cucumber
• 3 or 4 tbs water
• 1 tbs finely chopped garlic
• 1 tbs finely chopped chili
DIRECTIONS
Blend the cucumber and water till you get the consistency of a smoothie. Add a bit of salt. Transfer to a metal baking pan and freeze for 1 hour; scrape with a fork. Freeze 2-3 hours or until completely frozen, scraping every 30 minutes.
Spoon over the oysters and sprinkle some finely chopped garlic and chili.
JAPANESE GINGER SAUCE
RICH & SMOOTH
INGREDIENTS
for 10 oysters
• 2 tbs Salmon roe or tobiko
• 3 tbs Rice Vinegar
• 3 tbs Soy sauce
• 2 tbs minced ginger
• Seasame and nori seasoning
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, mix together ginger, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Let sit for several minutes.
Drizzle over the oysters and sprinkle the nori and sesame seasoning. Finish with a teaspoon of salmon roe.
VIETNAMESE SRIRACHA
ZESTY & SPICY
INGREDIENTS
for 10 oysters
• 2 tbs Vietnamese calamansi juice or Lime juice
• 3 tbs Sriracha sauce
• 1 tbs minced shallot
• 1 tbs finely chopped spring onion
• Pepper & Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together. Let sit for several minutes. Spoon some of the dressing over the oysters and sprinkle some more spring onion.
The chinese cucumber salad and japanese ginger sauce are the same recipe for the japanese ginger sauce. What is the chinese cucumber recipe?
Hi Edward! My bad! I just added the right recipe.