There is nothing that reminds me of summer and the beach more than raw oysters! While I love the salty, briny little bivalves, I like them best with toppings. Sometimes the saltine with a touch of cocktail sauce is all I need, but when I’m feeling fancy I’ll whip up a mignonette!
Traditionally mignonette is made with red wine vinegar, shallots, and pepper. This makes for a beautiful flavor combination with the salty buttery oyster and the shallots add a great crunchy texture.
This past week I was lucky enough to spend time with my boyfriends family and friends at Fripp Island! Fripp is so beautiful and quant, populated densely with mini deer it’s as if you’re on a pretend island and time stops. It’s always interesting going on vacations with other families as there are always different traditions. I was pleasantly surprised to find that every meal was cooked at home (with 20 people in the house this was no small feat) It was beautiful watching each person flow in and out of the kitchen, contributing their specialty to various meals. This inspired me to make something special for everyone, and in Fridge to Fork fashion I thought I could use what we had on hand. Thankfully, whoever did the shopping at the beginning of the week stocked the kitchen well!
Like I said, raw oysters are about as beachy and summery as it comes and we had a whole bushel in the fridge…Bingo! I would serve raw oysters with mignonette sauce as an appetizer. There just happened to be about a thousand strawberries at the house so I thought I would mix things up and add some to my mignonette. Turns out the sweet strawberries, tangy vinegar, slightly spicy jalapeños and crunchy shallots make for a tasty combo!
Start by dicing the fresh ingredients. The key here is to dice finely and uniformly. Since this is a “sauce” you don’t want large chunks. You want to be able to get just a little of every flavor in one bite. Dice the strawberries, shallot, cilantro. With the jalapeño I removed the ribs and seeds before dicing, but if you want some heat leave some attached! Now mix the vinegars, I opted for both rice wine and red wine as rice wine lends itself to a sweeter flavor, but feel free to use all red wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar, or even white wine vinegar (as long as you dilute with a splash of water). As far as substitutes go, you can substitute many fruits for strawberries such as peaches, mangos, or pears! I tried peaches and then subbed basil for cilantro. So really use what you have and experiment! Okay, back to my recipe, mix your fresh ingredients into the vinegar and top with fresh ground pepper. Cover and cool for 30 minutes. In the meantime wash and shuck the oysters. Lay on a plate covered with kosher salt. Serve oyster either with the mignonette on the side or scoop a small spoonful into each oyster. Cheers to summer and the beach!
