Oyster Platter with Wild Blueberry Granita

Oysters on the half shell served with a frozen wild blueberry mignonette granita. Sounds fancy, looks fancy, but it’s very simple – the granita is just a frozen mixture of wild blueberries, vinegar, shallot and black pepper. Basically, a mignonette in a slushy consistency.

The hardest part of this recipe is shucking the oysters. If you’ve got that part down, you’re good to go. If not, have a friend or family member lend a helping hand!

Thanks to my friends at Wild Blueberries for sponsoring this post and thanks to you, my readers, for supporting brands that help keep My Cape Cod Kitchen running. As always, all opinions are my own.

                

This oyster platter is great for the holidays – and beyond!

This sparkly, briny, savory and just slightly sweet appetizer would be perfect served for any upcoming holiday gathering. But don’t reserve it just for the holidays – these oysters on the half shell would also be amazing with this granita in the heat of the summer, so keep the recipe in your back pocket!

A few tips on purchasing and storing oysters:

To make this oyster appetizer, you’ll need to purchase fresh oysters. Get them from your local fish market or buy them from the many reputable online purveyors of oysters – nowadays there are many. The most important thing is to trust where you are purchasing them from.

Once you bring the oysters home from the market, you’ll want to keep them VERY cold. Not frozen, but very cold. I usually place them in a metal bowl with a separate bowl of ice underneath the bowl holding the oysters. Then I place the bowls in the coldest part of the fridge. You do not want to have the oysters sitting in ice because when the ice melts, the oysters will be sitting in fresh water which can kill them.

How do you make this wild blueberry granita?

When you’re about 30 minutes out from wanting to serve your oysters, make the wild blueberry granita for topping the oysters. You’ll need:

• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
• ½ cup Prosecco vinegar (or champagne or white wine vinegar)
• 1 shallot
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Add all the ingredients into a high speed blender and pulse for about 30 seconds until well blended. Pour the wild blueberry mignonette into a small freezer safe bowl and place uncovered in the freezer while you shuck the oysters. The mignonette will be slightly frozen with some liquid at this point, but once you put it into the freezer, it’ll become more like slushy consistency, which is what you want.

Scrub, Inspect and Shuck your Oysters.

Now, you want to scrub and inspect your oysters. Scrub them to remove any grime. When you inspect them look for broken shells,  a hollow feel (indicating they may be dead) and smell (no off smell!). When in doubt, toss them out.

Then, shuck your oysters. If you need a tutorial on shucking oysters, visit this post.

While you are shucking the oysters, make sure they smell good (sweet and briny, like the sea), have plenty of brine (liquor) inside and look plump and supple.

Once you shuck an oyster, place it on a serving platter either with crushed ice or Himalayan or food-grade rock salt.

When all of your oysters are shucked, take your mignonette granita out of the freezer. Spoon ¼-1/2 teaspoon of granita mixture onto each oyster, like below.

I also topped each oyster with a few slightly thawed wild blueberries, some lemon zest and a sprinkle of finishing salt, but all of that is completely optional.

This recipe makes enough wild blueberry granita to top 2-3 dozen oysters. If you don’t use it all for oysters, you can freeze it in a freezer safe sealed container and when you want to use it, thaw slightly and then smash to break up the ice. Alternatively, you could use the remaining thawed granita as a base for a wild blueberry vinaigrette – just add extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt.

This granita isn’t a traditional granita, which involves freezing a liquid for a period of time, scraping it with a fork, freezing it again, scraping it again – over and over. This is a short-cut time-saving granita recipe, and we can all use more of those this holiday season.

If you are an oyster purist and prefer your oysters straight up, then this wild blueberry mignonette granita may not be for you. But if you’re willing to be a bit festive and adventurous with your oysters, give this recipe a try! The wild blueberries and the oysters are a wonderful complement to each other – the whole package is briny, sweet, savory, tangy, icy and smooth.

Do you love Wild Blueberries as much as I do?!

Wild blueberries are a staple in our freezer year-round; in fact, my kiddos have permanent purple mustaches from eating them every day for breakfast. Wild blueberries are convenient (flash-frozen in my freezer and ready for use!), packed with nutrition (fiber, antioxidants) and rich in blueberry flavor. Find wild blueberries in your grocer’s freezer – just look for the frozen fruit and make sure it says *wild* on the packaging of your blueberries!

We love these little wild blues! And they, as proven in this recipe, aren’t just for sweet dishes, they are also pair wonderfully with savory foods.

Here’s how to make this Oyster Platter with Wild Blueberry Granita Mignonette:

 

NOTE: This recipe makes enough wild blueberry granita to top 2-3 dozen oysters. If you don’t use it all for oysters, you can freeze it in a freezer safe sealed container and when you want to use it, thaw slightly and then mash with a fork to break up the ice. Alternatively, you could use the remaining thawed granita as a base for a wild blueberry vinaigrette – just add extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt.

 

PIN this oyster on the half shell recipe for later:

*Those with compromised immune systems, as well as those who are pregnant, infants, young children and older adults, should not consume raw or undercooked fish and shellfish.