Grilled Oysters

The other day our friends/neighbors Jim and Karen invited a few of us over to their house for a cookout on their deck. Luckily I was able to purchase a bag of fresh oysters from my local market. I made shooters on the half shell (minus the crab meat) with most of them, adding just a little cocktail sauce, a squeeze of lime, a dash of hot sauce and vodka. Everyone seemed to really enjoyed them. Our friend/neighbor Carlos gave me a nice compliment when he tells me they tasted as good as in any high-end restaurants. My husband tells me they tasted good, even better and easier to eat than the shooters in a glass that I made a few posts earlier. He thinks everything blended well when they are on the half shell. A few of them did not have any of their natural liquid in them so I added olive oil, minced onion and vodka and grilled them. In Vietnam people often grill (using charcoal) shellfish by adding chopped scallion or green onion and oil.

This time I am inspired to grill some oysters to use up some of my beautiful coral color green crab roe. I was able to gather 3 bags of fresh oysters from my local market. We invited our friends/neighbors Inge and Marshall over for a little last minute grill on our shady deck despite 90+ F outside. We ate most of the oysters fresh with a little lime juice and I saved the rest to experiment on the grill. On a few of the grilled ones I added fresh hot chili peppers for a little kick since Marshall and I like spicy food. The secret to spicy foods is that it helps you sweat and cool you down! The garlic, shallots and chili peppers came from my parents' garden. Inge brought over a few different opened bottles of chilled white wine and I chose the Chardonnay to drizzle over the oysters. You may use whichever type of alcohol you prefer or have at home. Here is the recipe.

these oysters are prepared and ready to place on the grill

grilling oysters

Grilled Oysters

Ingredients:

8 oysters with liquid
1 blade of fresh scallion (green parts only), chopped or cut with scissors
1 garlic clove, grated or smashed and minced
1/2 medium sized shallot, minced
Cooked green crab roe (use as much or as little as you prefer or have)
Hot chili pepper, deseeded and chopped
About 1 Tbsp oil (I prefer either canola or olive)
About 3 Tbsp white wine (or another type of alcohol such as sake, rum, tequila or vodka)

Method:

Shuck the oysters and remove/discard any shell bits. Add a little chopped scallion, garlic and shallot. Add some of the crab roe. May add a little chili pepper if interested. Drizzle with a little oil and white wine (about 1 teaspoon of wine for each oyster). Grill until they are cooked to your preference. Use tongs to carefully remove the oysters from the grill.

oysters on the half shell with a squeeze of lime
(aka naked oysters)