SUMMER // Recipe for four
Cucumber, native oysters and beach plants
Gin and oysters are a great combination, and I love my gin with a slice of cucumber, which is where this combination arose. This is definitely cucumber with oyster – the oyster is accustomed to being centre stage, but here it’s very much a vessel for the fabulous chilled flavour of that garden cucumber. You can use large Pacific oysters here or, my favourite, gold-lip oysters from Tasmania. Beach mustard is a gathered ingredient that we collect from the coast and is entirely optional if it’s not easily found where you live.
CUCUMBER ICE
6 cucumbers, unpeeled
2 sprigs bronze fennel
2 teaspoons lime juice
30 g (1 oz) honey
Juice the unpeeled cucumbers with the fennel. Add the lime juice and honey to the cucumber juice. Pour into a shallow tray and freeze for 2 hours, running a fork through the mixture every 30 minutes as the ice particles form.
CUCUMBERS
4 of the best Lebanese cucumbers you can find
10 cucumber flowers
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) aromatic gin
Start by peeling the cucumbers, then use an apple corer to remove the cucumber seeds. (Save the peelings to make burnt cucumber dressing.)
Take the outer flesh rings and slice into 1 cm (½ in) thick pieces. Dress the cucumber slices and flowers with the gin and leave in the fridge until needed.
OYSTER CREME
6 large unopened oysters
220 ml (7½ fl oz) cream
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) white soy sauce
Juice of 2 lemons
Shuck the oysters, keeping all the juices. Strain the juices into a blender and then add the oyster meat. Add the cream, soy sauce and lemon juice and purée until the creme is thick.
SHUCKED OYSTERS
4 unopened Angassi oysters
Shuck the oysters over a plate to collect the juices. Remove the oysters from their shells and leave on the plate in their juices in the fridge until ready to serve.
