Oysters, simple and adulterated – by Toby Gritten and Jake Platt
Ingredients (Serves four)
12 oysters
1/2 lemon, unwaxed
1/2 pint Guinness
100ml cream
1 pomegranate (seeds from)
20 lavender petals (fresh if possible)
1tsp horseradish cream
Method Reduce the Guinness by two-thirds, then add the double cream.
Simmer for about five minutes until the sauce reaches the thickness of double cream. Keep warm and set aside.
Shuck the oysters, remove four from their shells and place in the warm Guinness reduction.
Arrange the other oysters on a plate covered in coarse rock salt (to hold the shells in place).
Leave four oysters plain and serve with a small slice of lemon. Place about a quarter of a teaspoonful of horseradish cream underneath the second four oysters, then top with pomegranate seeds and four or five lavender petals each.
Place the warm, Guinness-poached oysters into their empty shells, arrange on the plate and serve.
Eat the oysters starting with the most simple, and finishing with the Guinness.
Toby Gritten and Jake Platt, head chefs, the Albion, Bristol