This recipe originally appeared in the November 2018 issue.
For our November 2018 “Feast Around the World” feature, we asked five of the state’s top chefs to create festive meals to serve this season. What we got was a cornucopia of global flavors.
For her sophisticated feast, Denise Shavandy, the executive chef at Café Modern—the restaurant at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth—was inspired by the Persian and Turkish dishes expertly prepared by her mother-in-law. Below is the exotic appetizer for Shavandy’s “East Meets West” menu.
Oysters on the Half Shell With Asian Mignonette
Chef Denise Shavandy kicks off her “East Meets West” feast on an exotic note with this appetizer.
Ingredients
- ½-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- ½ shallot, minced
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons white soy sauce (or regular)
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons yuzu juice (can substitute lime juice)
- ½ cup cucumber, peeled and cut into ⅛-inch dice
- ¼ cup Asian pear, peeled and cut into ⅛-inch dice
- 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
- 24 fresh-shucked oysters on the half shell
- wasabi-flavored flying fish roe (tobiko), optional
Directions
- To prepare mignonette, mix ginger, shallot, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, and yuzu juice in a small bowl and let stand for flavors to blend, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, toss cucumber, pear, and chives.
- To serve, arrange oysters on a platter of crushed ice, drizzle each with a teaspoon of mignonette, and top with a spoonful of the cucumber-pear mixture.
- Garnish with tobiko.
