OYSTERS WITH CHILLI BUTTER

SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 5 MINUTES

In this dish the butter melts and poaches the flesh of the oyster, gifting it with a great minerality. Fun fact: fat naturally subdues the heat of chilli.

CHILLI BUTTER

200g salted butter

80g sambal (I use Huy Fong Foods sambal oelek) 10ml lime juice

2 garlic cloves

Blend all the ingredients in a mixer. Turning up or turning down the spice is easy: begin by adding the sambal in 10g increments if you fear heat; if you don’t, start with 80g of sambal, before adding additional 10g increments. Then taste, taste, taste.

OYSTERS

24 oysters (use a creamy oyster, as the thinner more saline oysters do not lend themselves to this style of cooking – I used Kaipara Oysters)

Put some of the chilli butter underneath each oyster. Grill in the shell over coals. To check when they’re done, watch them closely and when the butter begins to warm and poach the oysters you will see the flesh retract a little – that’s when you want them, so they’re warm through.