From “On the Line,” by Eric Ripert (Artisan Books, 2008). Serves 4.
Ingredients
3 cups kosher salt
28 Kumamoto oysters, shucked
1/2 cup garlic butter (recipe follows)
12 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 lemon
Directions
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix 1 cup of the kosher salt with just enough water to make it the consistency of wet sand. Place 7 small mounds of the salt on each of four serving plates to hold the baked oysters. Set aside.
Spread the remaining 2 cups salt on a baking sheet. Place about a teaspoon of the garlic butter on each oyster, and nestle the oysters in the salt. Scatter the thyme over the oysters.
Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the butter is bubbling and lightly browned.
To serve, place each oyster on a mount of salt on the serving plates. Drizzle with lemon juice and serve immediately.
Garlic butter
Makes about 1/2 pound
Ingredients
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley.
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot
Directions
Wrap the parsley in a square of cheesecloth and squeeze to remove excess moisture.
Whip the butter in the bowl of a stand mixture until creamy. Add the garlic, shallot and parsley and mix well.
Transfer the butter to a plastic container and store, tightly sealed, for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 1 month in the freezer.
