Results - Oysters in Tempura with Ponzu Sauce

At this very moment I'm sitting at home feeling a little sorry for myself. My head is a walking, talking case of pus. I have sinusitis, a throat infection, the biggest coldsores you have ever seen, yes more than one coldsore! and swollen infected neck glands to boot. My head literally feels like a truck parked on top of it. I usually post results to restaurant recipes pretty quickly, I do like to keep my audience in suspense but I like to think I'm not cruel, but the acute elephantiasis that I've been experiencing in the right side of my face has kinda gotten in the way. I'm feeling a little better today, I can actually feel confident enough to venture outside without having small children run in fear from the sight of me, so I thought I would post this while the going is good.



Just a note to start with, the recipe called for St Helen oysters, I couldn't get my hands on any so instead went for Coffin bay oysters. I bought them already shucked, I know not the best, but I'm not confident enough to shuck my own oysters yet. I have visions of knives going through my hand and bright red blood spurting everywhere!




I'll start with the bad, I felt that the tempura batter was a little thick for the oysters. I'm used to very light crunchy batter and this was a fair bit thicker and more chewy. I didn't use a thermometer on my oil, so if I had it at the perfect temperature it may have resulted in a much fluffier and lighter texture.



I really enjoyed the oysters in the batter. It was a novelty for me. I've never had deep fried oysters before. I enjoy them au natural or lightly grilled with a nice sauce, so having the little ones encased in a skin made out of batter was totally new.



The oysters on the inside were perfectly cooked. Really juicy and smooth, not even a hint of rubberiness, frankly - a fear that I had. The ponzu sauce was interesting. It was tangy and went perfectly with the fishiness of the oysters. I didn't have any konbu, so I substituted with nori. It worked quite well.



I really liked this recipe, and I'll definitely make it again however I would use a different recipe for the tempura batter or at least get a proper thermometer to keep the oil at the right temperature.

Oysters in Tempura with Ponzu Sauce

Restaurant: Esposito (VIC)
Recipe from Chef Maurice Esposito (The Esposito Recipe cards, from the Esposito newsletter)
2010 Rating: Not rated, 1 Star

The hot weather is coming, which means I'm craving cold beers and bar snack food. When those warm days come I love nothing more than sitting in the warm sun with a cold one and some food to snack on. By the end of the day I'm slightly boozed up, possibly a little red from sun burn and a satisfied belly. A couple of weeks ago I got a newsletter from Esposito Seafood dining which showcased St Helen Oysters prepared tempura style....perfect beer food! So here is the recipe, and you know what comes next....the results!

St Helen’s Oysters in Tempura with Ponzu Sauce

serves 4 - 3 oysters each

12 St Helen’s Oysters, freshly shucked and removed from their shell

Tempura Batter

2 egg yolks
2 cups iced water
2 cups sifted plain flour
oil for deep-frying - canola, rice bran or grapeseed

Make the batter in 2 batches. It’s very important to prepare the tempura batter as close to cooking time as possible - this ensures it doesn’t get heavy or become too combined. Prepare the first batch just before you are ready to begin deep-frying. As you are waiting for the oil to heat, in a mixing bowl, lightly beat 1 egg yolk, then pour in 1 cup of ice water and give this a few stirs (chopsticks or a fork are good to use here as a mixing tool). Add 1 cup of the sifted flour all at once. Stir through a few times, just until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be very lumpy.

Have a plate lined with a paper towel and a slotted spoon at the ready and once the oil is hot lightly coat each oyster in the tempura batter and gently place in the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Don’t walk away from the oil at any time while you’re cooking these.
As soon as the batter becomes golden, take the oyster out with the spoon and put on the paper towel. Continue to do this until all the oysters are cooked and serve immediately next to Ponzu sauce (recipe follows).

Once the first batch of batter is used up, take the oil off the heat and make the second batch of batter and continue to cook the oysters.

Ponzu dressing

makes about 1 cup

2 tbsp lemon juice
8 tbsps rice vinegar
4 tbsps soy sauce
2cm square konbu (kelp)

Mix together the juice, vinegar and soy sauce, wipe the konbu gently with a cloth and then add to the combined liquid. Leave in the fridge overnight or longer if possible.

Esposito

Date: August 2009

2009 Rating: 75th

2009 Star rating: 1

Chef: Maurice Esposito

Location: 162 Elgin Street, Carlton, Victoria

Website: www.espositofood.com

Its been a while since my last top 100 visit, and this month I've managed to visit a few, thanks in part to the Put Victoria on the Table promotion. Earlier this week we moseyed on down to Esposito @ Toofeys. Esposito is renowned for his seafood so I at least knew what I wanted for my main, something fishy.

The decore and atmosphere was actually quite lovely, there was only one problem. Jonquils! I HATE Jonquils, don't get me wrong, I think they are very pretty, but they smell horrid! I would not immediately pair the smell of Jonquils with mouth watering dishes, but on the other hand I really dislike them, the next person to walk through the door may love them. So its hardly something I can complain about.

We started the meal with a complementary appetiser. I love it when the chef takes the time to come up with something that each of his/her diners receives before they start their meal. Its even better when that little something extra tastes awesome! We received a tiny little dish filled with mixed herbs including tarragon, mint, dill, parsley, fennel and spring onion all combined in a mustard dressing. It was delicious, great way to kick things off.

We weren't particularly hungry so stuck to the two course dinner. For entree/main I had the John Dory fillets with kipfler potato and mud crab crush and artichoke tortellone. I enjoyed the dish. The crab/potato crush was by far my favourite, you could really taste the crab in the crush and it went really well with the crispy skin on the dory. The problem? The fish was extremely under seasoned and there was a tomato on my plate in the middle of winter. Enough said.

Daz had the Black Angus fillet steak with mushroom ragout, 50 year old balsamic vinegar and potato puree. The plate was quite pretty. Daz's reaction was that the dish was good, but not great.

For dessert I had the Hot date tart - Spiced frangipane with vanilla bean ice cream. I just couldn't resist the name of this dish and I just had to have the hot date for myself. I was pretty glad I did. There was some slight confusion and my date went to another table, would have been understandable if it had been a blind date. By the time it reached me, the ice cream had melted quite a bit. The pastry was flaky and it definitely lived up to its name, piping hot with the nice thick layer of date. Hmmm yum!

The end of Daz's meal was a bit more cheesy than mine. He had Pyengana cheddar, toasted fruit bread and house of Hines quince paste. I had a little nibble of his cheddar and it was pretty good. Crumbly and sweet, too bad the fruit bread was more like toast.

Esposito was nice, I wish I had a chance to try more of the seafood, so another visit is needed.