Recipes
Gin Tonic Oysters Weston Table

Small Plates

Gin Tonic Oysters

Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Food for romantics, these tender, plump tastes of the sea may be all you need to get the evening started. With a mythological history in which the Greek goddess Aphrodite emerges from oyster sea foam from the Ionian Sea on an oyster half shell, oysters are forever more associated with a unique ability to stimulate more than just the appetite. We suggest a a mignonette made from a swig of gin on these bivalves and to serve them alongside a desire to do as In 1864 on a visit to San Francisco, Mark Twain felt compelled to “destroy oysters done up in all kinds of seductive styles”. 

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cuisine American
difficulty Easy
season Year Round
serves 2

Ingredients

  • 12 oysters, freshly shucked
  • 1/4 cup botanical gin
  • 1 tablespoon shallot, finely minced
  • 1 mini cucumber, cut lengthwise, seeds removed
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 2 to 4 ounces tonic water
  • Crushed ice

Directions

  1. Add the gin, cucumber, shallot, and salt to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and whir until competely pureed. Pour into a bowl and add tonic water to taste.
  2. Pour the liquid into a bottle fitted with a pouring spout (alternatively, you may add to a bowl and spoon over oysters). 
  3. Shuck the oysters and place them on a bed of ice.
  4. Pour a few drops of the gin tonic mix on to each oyster. Serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

Botanical gin is more subtle and has  less juniper forward notes making it an ideal companion for oysters. Our favorite is Uncle Val's Botanical Gin. We use a kid's snow cone machine to make crushed ice. Wear a shucking glove or wrap your hand in a shucking cloth or a think hand towel to prevent injury while shucking (stabbing yourself would be less than romantic just before serving your Valentine.
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