On Fish: Deep-Fried Oysters in a Seeded Crumb with a Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Words by Nathan Outlaw

Michelin-starred Nathan Outlaw distils three decades of experience as a foremost fish chef in a brand new handbook on cooking fish.

Deep-Fried Oysters in a Seeded Crumb with a Barbecue Sauce

Serves: 4 (as a starter)

Ingredients:

12 live medium Pacific oysters

100g (3½oz) plain flour

2 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

2 teaspoons sunflower seeds

100g (3½oz) breadcrumbs

Sunflower oil, for deep-frying

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the barbecue sauce:

Olive oil

½ onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ green chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 smoked chilli, chopped

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

1 oregano sprig, leaves picked and finely chopped

1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

Zest and juice of ½ orange

50g (1¾oz) caster sugar

200g (7oz) good-quality canned chopped tomatoes

75ml (2½fl oz) red wine vinegar

50ml (2fl oz) apple juice

1 teaspoon English mustard

To serve:

Dampened sea salt, to sit the oyster shells on

¼ iceberg lettuce, shredded

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Method

Crispy oysters are a firm favourite with our customers at the restaurants. The texture is so good and, let’s face it, if you breadcrumb something, nine times out of ten it’s delicious! The barbecue sauce is a great recipe to have made up for other uses too, but with these crispy oysters it works a treat.

To make the barbecue sauce, heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When hot, add the onion, garlic, chillies and red pepper and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the oregano, smoked paprika, fennel seeds and orange zest and cook for another minute. Next, add the sugar, tomatoes and wine vinegar, stir until the sugar is dissolved, then bubble to reduce until syrupy. Add the orange juice, apple juice and mustard. Bring to a simmer and bubble until the liquid has reduced by half. Taste and season with salt and pepper as required.

Tip the contents of the pan into a food processor and blitz for 2 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl and leave to cool.

 This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Shuck the oysters and reserve the shells. Clean the oyster shells, then mix some sea salt with a little water to the texture of wet sand. Place little piles of wet salt on a platter with an oyster shell on each one.

When you are ready to serve, put the flour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Have the beaten eggs ready in a separate bowl. In a third bowl mix the seeds with the breadcrumbs.

Heat a deep-fat fryer to 180°C (350°F) or heat some sunflower oil in a deep, heavy-based pan (not filling more than two-thirds full). One by one, pass the oysters through the flour, then the egg and finally the seeded breadcrumbs to coat thoroughly, laying them out on a tray ready to cook. Deep-fry the oysters for 1 minute until crisp, then drain on kitchen paper.

To serve, place some shredded lettuce into each oyster shell, add a crispy oyster and spoon a little barbecue sauce on top. Serve hot.

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