Name: Analiese Gregory’s grilled oysters with seaweed butter
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 - 6
Ingredients: 20 gm shio kombu (see note); 150 gm softened cultured butter; 20 gm dried wakame (see note), ground in a spice grinder or small blender; 1 tsp white soy sauce (shiro shoyu; see note); 1 dozen Pacific or Sydney rock oysters, unshucked

Analiese Gregory’s grilled oysters with seaweed butter

Butter – especially this sweet-salty seaweed butter – makes everything better.

Serves 4 - 6

Prep

15M

Cook

Total

20M

“I really enjoy a warm oyster, especially in winter,” says Analiese Gregory. “There are a lot of wild oysters around the Tasmanian coast so we decided to throw some over the coals and make a butter from the seaweed that grows around them. The butter here uses seaweeds that are easy to find in Japanese grocers.”

Ingredients

20 gm shio kombu (see note)

150 gm softened cultured butter

20 gm dried wakame (see note), ground in a spice grinder or small blender

1 tsp white soy sauce (shiro shoyu; see note)

1 dozen Pacific or Sydney rock oysters, unshucked

Method

1.Preheat a woodfired barbecue until it burns down to hot, white-ashed coals.

2.Meanwhile, rinse shio kombu and soak it in 1 tbsp water in a bowl (5 minutes). Drain, finely chop, and add to a small saucepan with butter, wakame powder and white soy over low heat. Stir butter until just melted, but not separated (3-4 minutes). Keep warm.

3.Meanwhile, place oysters on a wire rack over hot coals for 2-3 minutes until hot. Pop the hinges with an oyster knife and serve topped with warm butter.

Shio kombu, dried wakame and shiro shoyu are available from Japanese grocers.
Wine suggestions NV Alessandro Viola “Blanc de Blancs” catarratto, Alcamo, Sicily and 2017 Momento Mori
“Give Up the Ghost” greco di tufo, Heathcote, Victoria. Wine suggestion by Forbes Appleby.
Notes