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 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

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!

Fried beef tartare or "Parisian steak" - Pariserbøf

Fried Beef Tartare or "Parisian Steak" - Pariserbøf

Pariserbøf has nothing to do with Paris or France. It's a traditional danish dish with a fancy name. Maybe the white bread it's served on is why it's called Pariserbøf. In Denmark the soft white bread is called French bread. 

Pariserbøf is a patty of lean ground beef on a slice of white bread, panfried and served with raw onion, pickled beets, horseradish, capers, danish pickles and a raw egg yolk on the top.

Danish pickles is vegetables (cauliflower, onion, pickling cucumbers and carrots) pickled in a mustard vinegar sauce. Much like the english Piccalilli.

Pariserbøf is normally on lunch menus in danish restaurants, but it can easily be served as dinner.

Disclaimer: This sauce is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This would minimize the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized eggs in some supermarkets here in California, on safeeggs.com you can see where to find them in your neighborhood.  In Denmark you'll find it right next to regular eggs. For tips and information on how to handle eggs, check out FDA’s website. The Danish version of FDA,  Fødevarestyrelsen also has advisory on eggs. 

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

• 2 slices of good bread, like a good sourdough bread

• ½ red onion

• 3 tablespoon capers

• 4 tablespoon pickled beets, diced

• 2-6 teaspoon horseradish, freshly grated

• 2-3 tablespoons danish pickles or Piccalilli

• 2 egg yolks

• salt & pepper

• butter for frying

Patties (4 pieces):

• 200 g very lean ground beef (freshly ground)

• 1 teaspoon good mustard like grey poupon country dijon

• 1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

• 1 egg

• salt and pepper

Directions: 

Dice the pickled beets, grate the horseradish, drain the capers, slice and chop the onions and separate the yolk from the egg white.  

Mix the ingredients for the patties, and form 4, not to thick, patties slightly larger than the bread slices. Put the patty on top of the bread, make sure the patty will stay on the bread. Season with salt and pepper. The extra patties, can be fried and saved for lunch the next day.   

Add a good amount of butter to a skillet and fry the pariserbøf patty-side down first until golden brown. Turn to fry the bread side until crisp. Pariserbøf is served medium to well done. If you use pasteurized eggs or no eggs, the pariserbøf can be served medium rare.

Serve right away with all the toppings.

Enjoy a pariserbøf with a good cold beer.

Tuna Steak with Avocado-Wasabi Purée

Tuna Steak with Avocado-Wasabi Purée

The first time I ever had tuna steak was on a vacation to the western Jutland in Denmark. We bought the fish at Hvide Sande Røgeri, not knowing how to cook it. We pan-fried it to well done. As you may already know, that is NOT the way to cook tuna, and of course it turned out to be a dry boring piece of fish. We didn't understand what the hype was all about.

Fast forward to now, we love tuna steak. This recipe was adapted from the Danish magazine "Alt for Damerne" - I had to try the wasabi-avocado purée with tuna. Here is my version:

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 2 tuna steaks
• salt & pepper

Marinade:

• soya sauce
• ½ jalapeño 

Purée:

• 2 avocados
• 2 teaspoons wasabi paste
• ½ red onion  
• 1 lime, the juice of
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions: 

Mix up the marinade and pour it into a ziplock bag, add the fish, and let tit marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.  

Purée: 

Mix the purée by mashing the avocados with a fork. I like the puree kinda chunky. Mix in wasabi paste, onion, lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the grill or grill-pan on high. Take the steaks out of the marinade and brush them with oil. Sear the steaks for about 1 minute on each side, and season them with salt and pepper.

Serve the tuna steak over rice with the avocado-wasabi purée.

Coconut Shrimp with Island Rice

Coconut Shrimp with Island Rice

I love the taste of coconut with shrimp, but I'm not a fan of the battered and fried coconut shrimp. By marinating the shrimps like this you get the coconut taste without the greasiness. Now coconut shrimps is a healthy summer dish. 

I love the combination of the shrimps with Island rice. Island rice is rice mixed with sweet and tangy fruits, her I used pineapple, papaya, mango and lime.

Ingredients:

Shrimps:

• 1½ pound shrimps, peeled and deveined  
• ⅓ cup (¾ dl) coconut balsamic (I get it from The Olive Bar in Campbell)
• ⅓ cup (¾ dl) Meyer lemon olive oil
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoon butter 
• salt to taste

Island rice:

• 3 cup cooked brown rice 
• ½ papaya
• ¼ pineapple
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 small mango
• 1 lime, zest and juice

Directions:

Shrimps:

Mix the oil, balsamic and shrimps in a ziplock bag and make sure to cover all shrimps in the marinade. Let marinate for 1-3 hours in the refrigerator.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add drained shrimps and red chili flakes. Fry the shrimps for a few minutes pr side, until pink and opaque. Season with salt.

Island rice:

Boil the rice according to directions on the package, add salt.

Cut the fruit into bite-size pieces, and slice the scallions thinly. Add fruit, scallions and lime zest and juice to the hot cooked rice, and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!