This past summer I stopped in Barcelona for a few days before heading to Greece, where I spent the bulk of my vacation. Like any popular destination, there are “touristy” places to eat, fast-food chains, places that are popular with tourists and locals and places that only locals know about.
I found a nice restaurant in the La Barceloneta area with the menu leaning toward seafood. Perfect – when by the sea I like eating fish and seafood. I began my meal with an order of oysters that came with a kimchi sauce. This could have been a joke (on me) or genius. Happy to report the oysters were the latter with the kimchi sauce offering acidity, salinity, spice, and a hint of sweetness.
Here’s my take on that sauce with the main ingredient being kimchi (a Korean fermented cabbage condiment) that can be found at Asian (of course Korean) markets.
Oysters With Kimchi Mignonette
Course: AppetizersDifficulty: Easy2
servings15
minutesIngredients
1/2 cup kimchi
1 Tbsp. kimchi juice
1 tsp Gochujang red pepper paste
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
splash of hot sauce (mild like Tabasco)
1 Tbsp. finely diced shallot (or red onion)
12 live oysters
- Garnish
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives or scallions
Directions
- To make the sauce, place the kimchi, kimchi juice, gochujang, vinegar and hot sauce in a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. Add a tablespoon of cold water at a time until you reach a sauce type of consistency.
Transfer to a container, add shallot and hot sauce, stir in. - Shuck your oysters and place on a bed of crushed ice or coarse salt.
- Spoon a bit of kimchi mignonette on each oyster, garnish with chives and serve.
Notes
- When one has oysters, one should pick a good oyster shucker – I’ve been using the Shucker Paddy.
- The oysters you see at seafood stores are farm raised, sustainable and their flavours vary depending on where they are cultivated. Buy from a trusted shop, ask questions/be informed.
- Read up on how to shuck oysters like a Guinness World Record Holder.
