Grilled Oysters with Pernod Cream

We hosted Christmas for the first year ever this year.  It's a fair bit of pressure when you have fairly hard to please parentals eating your food.

It went pretty well, bar dropping the pan of roasters on the floor, and not reading the actual recipe for Fennel Butter Cream oysters and realising, come the time, that I didn't have half the ingredients.  Hence the following recipe.  I have to say, the oysters were the highlight of the meal,  purchased from Welch's along the road in Newhaven.

We had some au natural with a bit of pickled chilli Mike had made a couple of weeks back, and the rest in the following sauce and grilled.  Some call it blasphemy, I call it delicious.


knob of butter

1 celery stick, finely chopped

25ml Pernod

100ml Double Cream

Salt and Pepper

Squeeze of Lemon Juice

Melt butter in a smallish frying pan, add celery and fry for 2 mins.  Pour in the Pernod and set on fire, reduce till about half the liquid remains, add double cream and let it bubble for another couple of mins until it's a bit thicker, then season to taste with salt and pepper and a wee squeeze of lemon.

Add a tablespoon or two to your freshly shucked oysters and put under the grill until nice and golden brown.

Enjoy responsibly, preferably with a wee glass of champagne.