While oysters and clams are usually offered on American menus “on the half shell” with cocktail sauce, you’re more likely to find them less adorned in Irish pubs, with only a wedge of lemon or a spoonful of mignonette sauce. The less-is-more theory allows the real flavor of these crustaceous delights to take center stage, as it does in famous oyster pubs in County Galway like Paddy Burkes in Clarenbridge, and Moran’s Oyster Cottage, at the Weir, in Kilcolgan.
SERVES 4
24 fresh oysters, shucked
MIGNONETTE SAUCE
1 cup red wine vinegar (not balsamic)
½ cup minced fresh shallots
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Pinch of salt
Brown soda bread for serving (see Mac's Pub Brown Soda Bread and Hargadon's Brown Soda Bread)(optional)
1 Shuck the oysters (see Note), and leave each one in the deep half of the shell. Discard the other half. Make a bed of finely crushed ice in each of 4 four shallow bowls, arrange 6 oysters on top, and refrigerate.
2 To make the sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a small lidded jar, cover, and shake to blend. Let stand for 15 minutes.
3 To serve, spoon the sauce into 4 small ramekins or bowls and place in the center of the oysters. Serve with a few slices of brown soda bread, if desired.
NOTE: To shuck oysters, scrub thoroughly with a stiff brush under cold running water. Wearing heavy rubber gloves, insert the tip of an oyster knife between the halves of the shell just behind the hinge or muscle. Cut through the muscle. Lift off the shallow shell. Loosen the oyster from the bottom shell with the point of the knife.
JOHNNIE FOX’S PUB, GLENCULLEN, COUNTY DUBLIN
