cook: oyster supper

I used to hike and visit the oyster farms near Point Reyes National Seashore in my 20s. I mainly bought oysters from Johnson’s oyster farm in Drakes Bay or from the Tomales Bay Oyster company, both small or family owned operations. These days in my 50s, I order oysters from Hog Island Oysters, which purveys them not only from their farm in Marin but also in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I won’t even trek the 15 miles north like I used to drive 45 miles to a bay for oysters like I did in my youth. My husband’s favorite oysters are the tiny ones like Miyagi or Hama Hama, but what was available comparable in size were the Salazars (small). I ordered 60–the smallest number I could order.      

Holy heck an order seemed like too many oysters. But I chucked 25 into a metal bowl to go into the fridge for the next evening meal. And put the other 35 into the sink under running water to further remove silt and sand and tiny bits of shell.              

Wanna know why oysters are so expensive or $3 a shot on a menu?!? Because they’re a lot of fucking work, that’s why! However, it was a labor of love. I do enjoy making a fancy dinner, and oysters definitely taste like a luxurious meal. I started with chopping a shallot very finely and mixing it with a 1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar as well as an 1/8 teaspoon sugar and an 1/8 teaspoon sea salt and a 1/8 white pepper. Mignonette done.                

And then the super laborious shucking. Patrick watched me struggling with the first few oysters and asked if I wanted help. Nope I confidently replied, but he grabbed my other oyster knife and a towel and shucked one for my every five oysters. After a while, I find shucking easy peasy. I am a fisherman’s daughter after all.    

There’s ice beneath the oysters which went back into fridge while I toasted garlic bread and sautéed green beans in butter.                              

What’s not pictured are the additional condiments of horseradish and Louisiana hot sauce and wedges of Meyer lemon, which along with my mignonette sometimes seared my throat into coughing but made for a delicious slurp of creamy flesh and ocean…eating oysters is like swallowing delicious ocean.

Twas a mighty fine oyster dinner capped off by more wine and a hot apple blossom with vanilla ice cream.