Recipe File: Grilled Oysters with Spicy Garlic Butter

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

NEW ORLEANS CHEF John Besh says: "This garlic butter is best when prepared ahead. I like to use it on just about everything, from pasta to sauteed shrimp."

Ingredients:
» 1 lb butter, at room temperature
» 1 clove garlic, minced
» 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
» 1 tsp chopped fresh chives
» Leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme
» 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
» 2 dozen oysters, shucked and left on the half shell

Makes two dozen

Preparation:
» Beat the butter with the garlic, pepper flakes, chives, thyme and lemon juice in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a food processor until well combined.
» Using a rubber spatula, mound butter onto a wide sheet of plastic wrap. Drape one of the wide ends of the plastic wrap over the butter, then roll butter into a cylinder about 1 inch in diameter and twist ends tightly. Refrigerate butter until hard.
» Prepare a charcoal or gas grill. Unwrap the spicy butter and slice it into disks about 1/2 inch thick. Put a disk of butter on each oyster, then put the oysters, butter side up, directly over the hot coals on the grill. Grill the oysters only until they start to curl and bubble around the edges and the butter melts. Serve them hot!

» Bayou Cuisine, By You: New Orleans Chef John Besh

Recipe courtesy "My New Orleans: The Cookbook" by John Besh ($45, Andrews McMeel publishing)
Photo courtesy Ditte Isager/Edgereps