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Roast Oysters and Tomato Butter

5.0(145)

These oysters are a good way to start a festive meal. One reason is that oysters seem to have built-in festivity — even when they were abundant to the point of local glut, they were eaten happily in bars that served only them, festively. The part of this recipe that requires any skill or focus is the shucking. This is a good skill to have anyway, and can't be gotten other than by practicing, meaning an hors d'oeuvre that is both nice for your guests and an exercise in self-edification. Once they’ve been opened, the oysters need little other attention.

by Tamar Adler

Open original recipe

FrenchFinger Foods, Appetizer

Servings

4 servings

Total time

—

Calories / serving

229 kcal

Ingredients (5)

serves

1/2 cup whole peeled tomatoes, juices drained and saved for souptomato
Rock saltsalt
12 small to medium oysters, like Island Creeks or Montauk Pearlsoyster
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, warmed to room temperaturebutter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot or red oniononion

Instructions (4 steps)

01Heat the broiler to high. In a small roasting dish or toaster pan, roast the tomatoes for 10 to 12 minutes on the highest rack, until they’re blackened in places.
02Spread enough rock salt onto a baking sheet to make a layer into which oysters will firmly sit. While the tomatoes are roasting, shuck the oysters by holding a dish towel in your nondominant hand, and holding the oyster around its rounded tip, with its cup side down, on a counter, then inserting an oyster knife into its hinge, wiggling it in entirely until the hinge gives, and then moving it around. (Even better, watch our video on how to shuck, several times, and then approach the task confidently.) Detach each oyster from its bottom shell. As each is done, secure it in a little well in the rock salt, so that it retains its oyster liquor.
03Leaving the broiler on high, combine the roasted tomatoes with the butter in a blender or food processor or with an immersion blender or with a lot of elbow grease. The resulting mixture will be mottled and ugly but will melt to glossy perfection. Stir in the shallot.