Grilled Oysters with Goat Cheese Butter, House-Cured Bacon, Black-Eyed Pea/Asparagus Salsa, Sweet Potato Barbecue Sauce and Sweet Potato “Hay”
Submitted by Randy Macdonald, Executive Chef, Seabrook Island (S.C.) Club
Yield: 100 oysters
Ingedients
1 – 100 count oysters on the half-shell, shucked, shell fragments removed and meat loosened from the bottom shell
1 cup panko crumbs, toasted
1/4 cup melted butter
• Toss toasted panko crumbs in melted butter.
For the House-Cured Bacon:
Ingredient
1 – 3 to 6 lb. pork belly, rinsed, dried and skin scored
1 cup kosher salt
3 tbsp. pink curing salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup chipotle powder
1/4 cup ancho powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
Procedure:
• Combine all of the spices. Rub belly all over with the mixture until well coated. Wrap and refrigerate in pan for 10 days, turning occasionally.
• Unwrap and rinse well. Pat dry and refrigerate uncovered on a rack for two days.
• Soak about 4 to 6 cups of your favorite wood-smoking chips in warm water for an hour or more.
• Prepare outdoor smoker or kettle-type grill to have a small hardwood charcoal fire on one side that can be maintained at a constant low temperature (200º F.) and can be easily accessed to add smoking chips.
• Smoke at 200º F. for 2 to 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 150º F. Add charcoal and/or wood chips to maintain smoke.
• Cool. Remove rind and slice to desired thickness.
For the Goat Cheese Butter:
Ingredients
1 lb. unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 lb. local or high-quality soft goat cheese
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
1 qt. packed spinach leaves
1 large roasted sweet potato, peeled
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
to taste kosher salt
to taste freshly ground black pepper
to taste green (jalapeno) Tabasco sauce
Procedure:
• Blanch spinach leaves briefly in boiling salted water; shock in ice water, squeeze dry and chop fine.
• Combine with all remaining ingredients, season to tasteand roll into logs, roughly the diameter of the “heart” ofthe oysters you are using.
• Refrigerate, then cut into 1/16” “coins.”
For the Black-Eyed Pea/Asparagus Salsa:
Yield: 3 quarts
Ingredients
1 qt. dried black-eye peas, picked over for debris
1 smoked ham hock
1 red onion, split
3 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
2 ears sweet yellow corn, shucked down to
the light green husk
1 bundle fresh asparagus, bottom one-third discarded
1 large tomato, cored and split
4 scallions, minced
1 large fresh jalapeno (2, if you like it hotter)
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
to taste kosher salt
to taste freshly cracked black pepper
to taste green (jalapeno) Tabasco sauce
Procedure:
• Place ham hock, garlic, one-half of the onion and bay leaves in a small pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim, return to simmer and cook until hock is tender (about1 to 1 1/2 hours).
• Strain water over peas and simmer until peas are tender (about 30 to 45 minutes), adding more water if necessary. Cool the hock.
• Cool peas and reserve liquid for use in Sweet Potato Barbecue Sauce recipe (below). Dice the hock meat, discard the bones, skin and tendons.
• Soak corn in warm water for 15 minutes, then grill until husks are charred and corn is tender. Cool, shuck and cut corn from the cob.
• Toss tomato halves, remaining onion half, scallions, jalapeno and asparagus with approximately one-quarterof the oil. Grill all briefly on all sides until lightly blackened overall.
• Peel, seed and dice the tomato and jalapeno. Dice asparagus and scallions.
• Combine peas, corn, asparagus, jalapeno, scallions, onion, vinegar and remaining oil. Season to taste.
For the Sweet Potato Barbecue Sauce:
Yield: 2 quarts
Ingredients
4 large sweet potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
2 sweet onions, peeled and cut in half
through horizon
1 pt. apple cider vinegar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp. chipotle puree (made by pureeing canned
chipotles in adobo and straining)
1 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. molasses
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 qts. ham hock or chicken stock
to taste kosher salt
Procedure:
• Spray sweet potatoes and onions with a little oil and place on rack on half-sheet pan. Smoke on grill at 250º F. until onions and sweet potatoes are nearly tender.
• Meanwhile, bring vinegar and sugar to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and reduce liquid by half. Peel sweet potatoes and rough-chop. Also rough-chop onions. Add to vinegar and sugar mixture and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Add stock, molasses and Worcestershire sauce and simmer for 10 more minutes.
• Add ketchup, cook five more minutes. Puree and strain through medium chinois. Season to taste with salt.
For the Sweet Potato “Hay”:
Yield: enough to garnish 20 plates of 5 oysters
Ingredients
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and
ends trimmed flat
1 gal. canola oil
to taste salt
to taste pepper
Procedure:
• In a large pot or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 350º F.
• Using a Japanese spinning mandolin*, turn sweet potatoes into hot water and soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze dry, then deep-fry until crispy but still a little orange. Do not allow to turn all the way brown. Drain on paper towels and season to taste.
*If you don’t have a spinning mandolin, julienne sweet potatoes into fine matchsticks, either with standard mandolin or by hand.
Final Assembly:
• Cook bacon slices until crisp, one slice per oyster. Cut to fit inside the oyster.
• Top each oyster with a bacon piece, “coin” of the goat cheese butter and bread crumbs. Grill to order until butter is bubbly and oyster is hot.
• Drizzle with barbecue sauce and top with salsa.
• Garnish with fried sweet potato “hay.”
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