Grilled Oysters With Jalapeno Herb Mignonette Recipes

GRILLED OYSTERS ATHENA

Steps:

• Preheat a grill.
• Saute the shallots and garlic in olive oil until the shallots are translucent. Add the spinach and continue to saute until the spinach is tender and reduced in size. Add the cinnamon and pine nuts, mix, and set aside.
• Depending on the size of the oysters, arrange 1 to 2 oysters on reserved half-shells. Place a portion of the spinach mixture over the oysters. Spoon the bechamel sauce topping over the spinach mixture. Sprinkle crumbled feta cheese over the bechamel.
• Grill on the half-shell over a medium high heat fire for approximately 5 to 10 minutes, or until oysters are done. Serve immediately.
• Melt butter in saucepan and whisk in flour until well blended. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes to remove the starchy taste of the flour. Gradually add the milk, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Beat the egg yolk slightly. Add the hot, thickened sauce to the egg yolk, stirring well. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into saucepan, stirring constantly. Add the crumbled feta cheese and stir constantly until cheese is melted and fully incorporated. Remove sauce from heat and use immediately.

TUSCAN WOOD-GRILLED OYSTERS WITH CRISPY PANCETTA-TOMATO-BASIL MIGNONETTE

Steps:

• Put the pancetta in a cast-iron skillet and cook over medium-high heat until crisp and the fat is rendered. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
• While the pancetta cooks, combine the vinegar, shallots, peppercorns, basil, tomatoes and season with salt.
• Prepare the charcoal grill using a chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes. When the coals are red hot and begin to turn grey, add the soaked wood chips evenly over the top of the coals.
• Grip each oyster, flat-side up, in a folded kitchen towel. Find the small opening between the shells near the hinge and pry it open with an oyster knife. Try not to spill the delicious juices, known as the oyster liqueur, in the bottom shell. Cut the oyster meat loose from the top shell, and then loosen the oyster from the bottom shell by running the oyster knife carefully underneath the body. Discard the top, flatter shell, keeping the oyster and juices in the bottom, deeper shell.
• Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the oysters over direct high heat until the juices start to bubble and the edges of the oyster curl, 2 to 4 minutes.
• Spread 1 1/2 cups kosher salt evenly over the bottom of a large platter. Carefully nestle the cooked oysters in the salt and top each oyster with some of the mignonette, a few cubes of pancetta and some parsley leaves. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil.

GRILLED OYSTERS WITH LEMONY GARLIC-HERB BUTTER

Steps:

• Ignite a full chimney of coals and spread out under one side of the grill once they are fully covered in gray ash, or heat half the burners of a gas grill to high. Cover and let the grill heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut off a sheet of aluminum foil twice the length of a 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Crumple it up so that it fits into the baking sheet. The crumpled foil should be able to support the cupped side of the oysters without allowing them to tip over.
• Prepare the garlic-herb butter: In a food processor, combine the butter, parsley, basil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, a large pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Process until the herbs are finely chopped and there are no large chunks of butter remaining, about 30 seconds total, stopping to scrape down the sides of the processor with a rubber spatula a few times as needed. Transfer the mixture to a small, oven-safe saucepan.
• Using tongs, arrange the oysters over the hot side of the grill, placing them with the cupped sides down, doing your best to set them in the grates so that oyster juices don't pour out of the cups as they open. Cover and cook, checking on them every minute or so, and transferring any oysters that have begun to gape open to the foil-lined baking sheet. After a total of 4 minutes, transfer any remaining oysters to the foil whether they have opened or not. Place the saucepan on the cooler side of the grill.
• As soon as the oysters are cool enough to handle, pry off the top shells with a butter knife or oyster knife, severing through the muscle that holds the oyster to the shell and retaining as much juice in the shell as possible. For oysters that aren't already gaping open, the easiest way to pry off the lids is by inserting the tip of the knife into the joint and firmly twisting it until the joint releases.
• Spoon a generous teaspoon of the garlic-herb butter (which should be fully melted by now) into each oyster, then return the oysters directly onto the grates on the hot side of the grill. Cook, uncovered, until the sauce mixture is bubbling hot, about 1 minute. Return the oysters to the foil-lined baking sheet and serve immediately.