Oysters and stout are a classic match, and certainly perfect for St Paddy’s Day. But just as James Davidson suggested we broaden our beer horizons this St Patrick’s Day, Paul Mercurio offers us up some interesting variations on oysters…three ways.

Fresh oysters with a beer vinaigrette dressing

• 1 cup of Belgian fruit beer – Kriek, Framboise, Fruits De La Foret
  

  Image from Mercurio’s Menu by Paul Mercurio, published by Murdoch Books

• 2 tsp sugar
• Chives
• Vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• Finger lime roe

Put a cup of beer and the sugar into a pan over gentle heat and reduce down to about 1/8 of a cup. Put this into a mixing bowl and when cooled whisk in an equal volume of vegetable oil i.e. – if you have ¼ cup of beer whisk in ¼ of oil, 3 tbls beer to 3 tbls of oil etc Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and chopped chives. Spoon some vinaigrette over a fresh oyster garnish with some finger lime pulp and eat.

Stout battered oysters

• 1 tablespoon Plain Flour
• 3 tablespoons Rice Flour
• Coopers Best Extra Stout, Red Hill Imperial, Mountain Goat Rare Breed Surefoot Stout – you get the point a big yummy craft brewed stout! etc
• Salt

Make a beer batter by putting the flour into a bowl add a pinch of salt (and any other herbs or spices you want) and then add in some of the stout. I like Coopers Stout because it is a big beer with lots of flavour and bitterness but then Red Hill and Mountain Goat are brilliant too. You could use Guinness if you wanted as that goes great with oysters also. The secret of getting a really good crispy result is to have the batter as cold as possible so make it in a bowl over another bowl filled with ice. Also don’t overwork the batter you don’t need to. Make the batter as thick or thin as you prefer.

Dip the oyster into the batter, let the excess drain off for about half a second and then drop the oyster into some hot vegetable or peanut oil. Fry until golden then remove from the oil drain on some absorbent paper and then put the oyster back into its shell for serving.

Salt and pepper oysters with a Mediterranean salsa

• Rice flour
• Salt and freshly ground black Pepper
• 1 tbls very finely diced red onion
• 1 tbls of very finely chopped kalamata olives
• 1 tbls of finely chopped tomato flesh only – peel the tomato, deseed and reserve some juice

In a bowl put a couple of tbls spoons of rice flour and then a generous pinch of salt and pepper and give it all a mix. Dredge oysters in flour and dust off excess flour then fry in veg or peanut oil until coloured and crisp. Remove from the oil drain on some absorbent paper and put oyster back in the shell. Mix all the ingredients for the salsa together and place a tsp full of the salsa on top of each oyster. Spoon a little of the reserved tomato liquid over the salsa.

*Paul has just started filming Series 5 of Mercurio’s Menu. Watch for more great beer and foodrecipeswhen it makes way to our screens.