A trio of native oysters, with hollandaise and soft leek, apple and watercress oil and crispy with pickled cucumber

Now that all of the hectic scurrying about over Christmas and New Years has been done I can settle down again to the relative tranquillity of this blog. Hectic doesn’t really quite cover it. Every year I always vow to be organised, to buy my presents months beforehand and be quietly smug when late December comes. Did I manage to achieve such grown-up, stress-free bliss this year? Did I heck.

 
Christmas was also busy at work; my first in my newfound fishmonger profession. Ever since I started, a day didn’t pass without the fabled words “you just wait ‘til Christmas” escaping someone’s lips, and now I fully understand. Needless to say, after providing what felt like most of North, East and South-West London with their lobsters and smoked salmon for the big day a rest was definitely needed.
 
One thing that particularly surprised me whilst working over Christmas was the sheer amount of oysters that we sold. Having not really come from an oyster-guzzling family, it felt crazy to sell people 60, 70 and more. I love the idea of a huge platter of them, all shimmering and dressed, to be lazily consumed with a glass of prosecco whilst waiting for Christmas dinner to arrive. Although I have to say that the thought of waking up on Christmas morning with a hangover and the task of shucking them all is not hugely appealing!
 
With this in mind I was inspired to return to a native oyster dish that I made a few months ago and that somehow I had forgotten to write about until now. It was the middle of September, and with the water starting to gently cool the shellfish season returned. After a barren summer we now had piles of plump, strong mussels, clams squeezed tight shut and boxes of beautiful oysters. I had never really seen or eaten native oysters before, and as with anything like this I was intrigued to give them a try. An idea was soon firmly planted in my head of making a few different dressings and garnishes and celebrating this first tasting.
 
To cut a long story short, celebration was the furthest thing from my mind when it came to opening the first one. I had opened oysters before, but it had been about a year, and despite approaching the whole thing very confidently I was soon hot-headed and embarrassed at how I couldn’t get the damn thing open. Unlike the normal rock oysters, natives take a bit more prising, and I really wasn’t prepared for it. Luckily, with calluses fast forming on my hands, I got it open. And as per usual, once that first one was popped open the rest soon followed.
 
After getting in such a flap, the eventual eating was made all the sweeter. Each flavouring really worked; accompanying and not overpowering the clean, mineral taste of the oyster. I could have eaten a bowlful of the almost scampi-like crispy fried variety, as long as someone else opened them for me…
 
Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
 
12 very fresh live native oysters
 
For the crispy oysters:
 
5-6 tbsp panko breadcrumbs 
3-4 tbsp plain flour 
1 large egg, beaten 
Vegetable oil for frying, approx. 500ml-1ltr
 
For the pickled cucumber:
 
1 small-medium cucumber, deseeded and cut into thin strips 
100ml cider vinegar 
50ml water 
50g caster sugar 
1 shallot, finely sliced 
1 garlic clove, crushed 
A few tarragon sprigs 
1 tsp fennel seeds
 
For the watercress oil:
 
2 handfuls watercress, washed 
1 lemon, juice only 
5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
 
For the diced apple:
 
½ a braeburn apple, peeled and finely diced 
1 lemon, juice only 
A small pinch of caster sugar
 
For the hollandaise:
 
200g unsalted butter 
4 tbsp white wine vinegar 
1 bay leaf 
6 black peppercorns 
2 egg yolks 
½ lemon, juice only
 
For the soft leek:
 
1 leek, finely julienned 
1 large know of butter 
A squeeze of lemon juice
 
To garnish:
 
A few small watercress leaves 
A few tarragon leaves

 
You can prepare the watercress oil, the diced apple, and the pickled cucumber the day before.
 
For the watercress oil, bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil. Fill up a large bowl with cold, icy water and have it ready on the side. Blanch the watercress in the hot water for 30 seconds before draining and plunging into the cold water. Once cooled squeeze dry and transfer to a food processer with the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Blitz to combine well, then transfer to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours, preferably overnight. Once infused, strain through fine muslin into another bowl and discard the now used watercress pulp. Cover the green, flavoured oil and set aside until needed.
 
For the diced apple, put the finely chopped apple into a small bowl and combine with the lemon juice and sugar. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
 
To make the pickled cucumber, pour the vinegar and water into a small saucepan along with the herbs, garlic, shallot, sugar and fennel seeds. Bring to the boil. Put the cucumber strips into a small bowl and when the pickling liquor is hot, pour it over to cover. Allow to cool. 

 
On the day of eating, prepare the other elements of the dish.
 
Melt the butter for the leeks in a frying pan. Add the thin leek ribbons, season well and sweat down on a low-medium heat until soft and sweet. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Keep warm.
 
Melt the butter for the hollandaise in a small saucepan. While the butter is melting, add the vinegar, bay leaf and peppercorns to a small saucepan and reduce until only 1 tablespoon remaining. Strain into a small food processor. Allow both butter and vinegar to cool slightly. Add the egg yolks to the vinegar along with some seasoning and combine well. With the motor still running, very slowly drizzle in the warm butter until it has all been emulsified and you are left with a thick sauce. Mix in a squeeze of lemon juice to taste; you want it to be quite sharp. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
 
Pour the vegetable oil for the fried oysters into a saucepan, you want enough to be 2” deep. Heat to 180⁰C.
 
For the crispy oysters, place two plates and a small bowl together on a work surface. Pour the panko and the flour onto the plates and beat the egg in the bowl. Season each element. Carefully coat each oyster in the flour then dip into the egg, so that it forms a thin paste around the outside. Finally cover with the panko breadcrumbs. Fry the crumbed oysters in the hot oil, in batches if necessary, for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper. 

 
Shuck the remaining oysters just before serving. Carefully remove the meat and give the shells a quick scrub.
 
To plate up, arrange three shells on each dish. Spoon a dollop of the hollandaise into one of the shells and top with a raw oyster and a few tarragon leaves. Position the other raw oyster into another of the shells and pour over a little watercress oil. Garnish this one with some of the diced apple and watercress leaves. Arrange some of the pickled cucumber into the final shell and top with the crispy oyster.

Crispy and poached oysters with oyster and leek veloute, pickled cucumber and lemon and tarragon oil

Last week I had a few days off work on holiday, but used this time to really relax with no plans to travel anywhere. Instead I just had a lovely enjoyable few days pottering around London and cooking. It was really nice to get out and visit some of the cracking local independent food suppliers that are normally closed when I get my days off on Sundays and Mondays. 

On Tuesday I took the bus down to Victoria Park where I placed an order with brilliant fishmonger Jonathan Norris. He is someone who I have spoken to many times on Twitter, mostly for help about what is in season etc, but it was great to finally pop in and say hello in person. Since I moved to Stoke Newington I haven’t been down to the area too often, but Katie used to live in Victoria Park and I really do love it round there. I’ve many happy memories of ogling at sausage rolls in the window of the Ginger Pig and breakfasting by the lake at the park pavilion. It’s such a foodie hub and you can get nearly anything in that tiny handful of shops. 

On this occasion I had ordered oysters. Now I am the first person to put my hand up and say that I’m not wild about eating raw oysters. It’s not the taste, I’m just not too keen on the texture, and they’re not something that I take that much pleasure from eating. But like I said about bone marrow in the previous blog post, I’m sure that this is a transitional thing and I will end up eventually liking them. But in the meantime, I know that there are other things that you can do with them and I was determined to make something nice. I liked the idea of gently cooking them with a creamy, chowder like soup.

I thought that this would also be a good occasion to have a go at making a veloute. It’s always something that I’ve associated with fine dining and have been nervous to attempt to make this super smooth, decadent soup. For Christmas I was fortunate to be given a number of great cookbooks, including the huge and insanely good Square Cookbook by Philip Howard. I knew that oyster veloutes existed, and when looking through the index for pointers I was pleased to see that there was a recipe for that very thing. I have used the veloute recipe in that book as the base for the one I made here, although Phil used his as part of an amazing starter with eel, salt cod and caviar. I haven’t quite gone that far here, simply deep frying some oysters to contrast the texture and adding some lightly pickled cucumber to give the acidity that is much needed in this creamy dish. 

Freshness is of the utmost importance when it comes to oysters. I would only really eat them on the same day as buying them, and only from a decent fishmonger. This is the joy of getting to know good local food suppliers, as you can learn loads about seasonal food and really trust that the produce that you get is top quality; a far cry from the majority of supermarkets. 

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

For the crispy oysters:

2 oysters

1 small handful panko breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper

Vegetable oil for deep frying, about 1 litre

For the poached oysters:

4 oysters

For the veloute:

3 medium leeks, finely sliced

1/2 onion, finely sliced

1/2 floury potato such as maris piper, finely sliced

30g butter

500ml water

250ml whole milk

1 large tbsp creme fraiche

8 oysters

For the pickled cucumbers:

1x 3” piece of cucumber

100ml white wine vinegar

3 tsp sugar

5 black peppercorns

For the lemon and tarragon oil:

100ml olive oil

1 small handful tarragon

1 lemon, zest only

For the sauteed leeks:

1/2 a leek, julienned into thin 2” sticks

1 large knob butter

Salt and pepper

Firstly make the lemon and tarragon oil. Put the oil, tarragon and lemon into a small saucepan and gently warm up, but not enough to start frying the flavourings. Turn off the heat, cover the pan with clingfilm and leave to cool down and infuse. Transfer to a squeezy bottle and set aside. This is best done a day in advance to let the flavours mix into the oil. 

To make the veloute, heat the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the leeks, onion, potato and seasoning and cook for 6-7 minutes, until softened. Pour in the water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the milk and creme fraiche and bring back to boil then pour the liquid through a sieve into a bowl. Spoon about a quarter of the leeks, onion and potatoes into a food processor with the strained liquid and blend really well until very smooth. Discard the remaining leeks. Strain again and set aside to cool. This part can be done in advance. 

While the veloute is cooking, make the pickled cucumbers. Peel the piece of cucumber and cut in half, then scrape out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Carefully cut into an even fine dice and put into a small bowl. Pour the white wine vinegar into a small saucepan with the sugar and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the peppercorns and pour over the cucumbers. Mix well with a spoon and set aside to cool. 

Julienne the leeks for the garnish and fry gently for 10 minutes in the butter and a little seasoning until softened. Keep warm and set aside.

Heat the frying oil up in a heavy medium saucepan to 170ºC. 

Slowly reheat the veloute up to just below boiling. 

Fill a small saucepan with salty water and bring to the boil.

To make the crispy oysters, set up two small plates and a bowl. Beat the egg into the bowl and put the panko and flour respectively on the other two plates. Season each part. Open two of the oysters, keeping them as intact as possible and draining the liquid. Gently roll the oysters in the flour, then dip into the egg before moving to the breadcrumb plate and covering. 

Open the 8 oysters for the veloute and put into the food processor.

Open the 4 remaining oysters for poaching. 

When the oil is hot, water boiling and veloute up to temperature it is time to finish the dish. Put the 4 oysters into the boiling water, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for two minutes. At the same time, lower the coated oysters into the hot oil and deep fry, turning occasionally until golden brown, about a minute. While this is happening, tip the veloute into the food processor over the oysters and blend really well until combined and frothy. Taste and season if needed. 

To plate up, make a little mound out of the cooked leeks and place in the middle of the bowls. Pour some of the veloute in and position the poached oysters in the ‘moat’. Spoon a little of the pickled cucumber around each side and put the crispy oysters on top of the leeks. Drizzle a bit of the lemon and tarragon oil around the bowl and serve quickly.