Pan-fried oysters with garlic mayo

This is a dish that was inspired by New Orleans and the Creole style of frying oysters. It is easy to make, requires few culinary skills but is really yummy and goes well with some cold beer or white wine.

Ingredients

12 shucked fresh oysters
½ cup of beer
1 tbsp mustard
1 egg
1 cup flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
½ cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves
Black and red pepper
Garlic powder

Mix the beer, mustard and egg, put in the oysters and marinate for one hour in the fridge. Mix in a bowl flour, spices and set aside. Grade two cloves of garlic and mix with ½ cup mayo and refrigerate. Heat a pan, put enough oil to cover the bottom. Dredge each oyster in the flour mix, shaking off any excess and fry for one-two minutes. Serve with garlic mayo.

Sam’s oysters on the half shell

Shucking oysters is no easy task, you obviously need a special knife and you have to be very careful or you might go missing a few fingers. However, once you get the hang of it, it is not that difficult. We are absolutely no experts, but shucking two dozen oysters takes us now only a few minutes. Here is the samandthedunes.com trick: first pry it a bit open by inserting the knife into the “hinge” at the back of the shell, then poke around for the muscle and once you find it, twist the blade firmly. Place the opened oysters on a plate of crushed ice and serve with your favorite accompaniments. And don’t forget that bottle of Laurent-Perrier.

Sam’s oysters on the half shell

Ingredients

12 shucked oysters on the half shell
6 tbsp Heinz Ketchup
½ lemon (juice)
4 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp horseradish
Tabasco and salt

Mix all the ingredients, add Tabasco and salt to taste and enjoy with the oysters.

The oyster bonanza kicks off: Sam’s surf n turf

100 oysters for our readers (well...at least the recipies)

We are supposed to be a joie de vivre blog, right? Sure, we have some five star hotels and Michelin star restaurants but when you think “high life”, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Obviously, champagne. Lots of it. And oysters. So, in an attempt to live up to our reputation, we went to Dakhla, famous for its oyster farms, and bought one hundred big ones. To prove to our readers (and to ourselves) that we really are a truly luxurious blog, every Wednesday for the next eight weeks we will present to you one new oyster recipe prepared by the samandthedunes team (keep your fingers crossed). Here is the first one:

Sam’s surf n turf oysters.

Ingredients

12 oysters
100 g bacon
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sause

Open the oysters and put them on a baking pan. Put rice under to keep the oystes stable. Drizzle Worcestershire sause over the oysters. Top with finely chopped bacon (pre-fried).

Grill in oven  for about 5-10 min. at 250 C (480F). Serve with chopped parsley and lemon wedge. Savor with a nice bubbly!