Story: WAGFG – Akoya with Danielle
Episode: 1
Presenter: Georgia Moore
Air Date: 22 August 2021

Georgia Moore is joined by guest chef Danielle Alvarez (executive chef of Fred’s in Sydney and author of ‘Always Add Lemon: Recipes You Want to Cook”) to cook up a storm using freshly caught Akoya, straight from WA waters.

Grilled Akoya Oysters with garlic butter and black pepper and seaweed dinner rolls

Serves 4
3-4 oysters per person (opened and cleaned, shells rinsed and reserved)
Black pepper


For garlic Butter:
1 head of garlic
120g soft butter
Salt
30ml white soy sauce or regular soy sauce


To garnish:
Lemon wedges


Method:
To make the garlic butter, cut off the top ¼ from the head of garlic to expose the cloves. Take a piece of aluminum foil and place the garlic in the center and top with half the butter and generous sprinkle of salt. Wrap the whole package tightly in foil and roast on a small tray in the oven which has been preheated to 175C for 45 minutes until the garlic is completely soft and caramelized. Remove this parcel from the oven, open it up and allow it to cool. Once cooled, squeeze the soft garlic from the bulb into a small bowl, pour all the melted and cooled butter into the same bowl and then add in the soy sauce and the soft butter and mix until it comes together. Set aside.

Light a charcoal or gas grill and get it to medium heat for cooking the oysters. Place the cleaned oysters back onto their shells and top with a small spoonful of garlic butter. Place the shell directly onto the grill and close it, if your grill doesn’t have a cover, place an overturned bowl over them to capture the smoke. They will cook in approximately 3-4 minutes. Remove from the grill and crack some fresh black pepper over them. Serve with warm bread rolls and lemon wedges.


Seaweed Dinner Rolls:

250g white unbleached baker’s flour
6g fine sea salt
6g aonori flakes or 2 sheets nori toasted and ground in a blender to a flaky consistency
225ml lukewarm water
8g honey
4g dried instant yeast
Soft Butter


Firstly, mix the lukewarm water with the honey and yeast and whisk together until foamy so you can be sure the yeast is active. Mix flour, salt, and seaweed in a larger bowl. Add yeast/water mixture into dry ingredients and using a wooden spoon mix to combine. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for one hour. At this point, the dough should have doubled in volume, if it hasn’t, give it a bit longer until it has. Then dump out onto a floured bench and divide into 4 equal pieces. Roll those into tight little balls. Grease your baking pan with lots of soft butter. You can use a small cast iron pan or any cake tin which is 20cm wide. Place the 4 dough balls into the pan and cover with a tea towel to prove another 40-60mins or until they have doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter and bake them for 30 minutes until golden and fluffy. Remove from oven and serve immediately with grilled oysters.

For more information: https://www.harvestroad.com