TWO SUMMER SEAFOOD RECIPES ON THE COWBOY GRILL
Photography by Josh Chang, Foundry 503
GRILLED HAMA HAMA OYSTERS
WITH PRESERVED & ASH ROASTED LEMON BUTTER
This recipe is credited to the above mentioned author and photgrapher. Hama Hama Hama is based in Washington USA so you can swap ingredients out in Australia and New Zealand with fresh. sustainably sourced ingredients available to you.
Briny oysters bubbling in melted butter,
slurped hot off the grill directly from their shells
are one of life’s great pleasures.
This version uses a zingy citrus butter made with the peel of preserved lemon and the pulp from a lemon roasted in the ashes.
Tip - Use any leftover butter to slather on bread or drizzle over steamed asparagus!
HOW TO MAKE
GRILLED HAMA HAMA OYSTERS
WITH PRESERVED & ASH ROASTED LEMON BUTTER
Serving: 4-6 | Prep Time: 1 hour 20 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 1.5 hours
INGREDIENTS
2 dozen oysters, shucked on the half shell1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 lemon
2 tablespoons preserved lemon peel, diced
2 small scallions, thinly sliced
Chive blossoms (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
ASH ROASTED LEMON
- Prepare a fire using wood or hardwood lump charcoal in the Cowboy Fire Pit Grill.
- When the fire has burned down, scrape some coals and ashes into a pile and place the whole lemon on the coals.
- Roast the lemon, turning often with fire tongs, until soft, squishy, and blackened on all sides.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- When cool enough to handle, carefully crack open the blackened lemon by peeling away a section of the charred skin. Using a small spoon, scoop all the liquified lemon pulp and juice out of the charred skin into a small bowl. Sift through and remove any seeds.
CITRUS SCALLION BUTTER
- Mix softened butter with preserved lemon and burnt lemon pulp.
- Add sliced scallions and stir to combine.
OYSTERS
- Shuck oysters and place on a bed of pine branches, rock salt, or crumpled aluminum foil. (Note: This is so they do not tip over and spill their tasty liquid!)
- Top each oyster with a knob of the citrus scallion butter.
- Over a hot fire on the grill, lower the grill grate so that the flames are not quite licking the grill.
- Using tongs or fire gloves, place the buttered oysters on the grill.
- Cook over the flames until butter is hot and bubbling and oysters are firm and cooked through.
- Remove oysters and place on a platter lined with pine branches or rock salt.
- Sprinkle with chive blossoms.
- Enjoy hot off the grill, right from the half shell -
HAMA HAMA TWO CLAM STEW
WITH CHICKPEAS & BURNT ONION DASHI
HOW TO MAKE
TWO CLAM STEW
WITH CHICKPEAS & BURNT ONION DASHI
Serving: 4-6 | Prep Time: 1-3 hours | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 1.5 hours
INGREDIENTS
CLAM STEW
- 1 pound manila clams, rinsed
- 1 pound purple savory clams, rinsed
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1⁄2 cup carrot, diced
- 1⁄2 cup celery, diced
- 1⁄2 cup fennel, diced
- 1⁄2 cup sofrito (recipe follows)
- 2 cups chickpeas, cooked
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups burnt onion dashi (recipe follows)
- 1 cup fresh herbs (parsley, dill, mint, thyme, cilantro), roughly chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
SOFRITO
- 1⁄3 cup olive oil
- 4 medium yellow onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
- 1⁄2 cup tomato puree
- Sea salt
BURNT ONION DASHI
- 2 medium yellow onions, skin on, split through equator to create 4 halves
- 1 four inch by four inch sheaf of kombu (or equal amount of kombu in smaller dimensions)
- 3 quarts water, divided, more as needed
INSTRUCTIONS
SOFRITO (CARAMELIZED ONIONS)
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pan.
- Add onions and a few pinches of salt. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to soften and release their liquid.
- Lower heat to medium low and cook onions, uncovered, stirring often (feel free to add a splash of water from time to time if sticking to the pan), until onions are completely melted, deep golden brown and caramelized.
- Add tomato puree and cook until thickened, then season with salt.
- Cool and refrigerate until needed.
DASHI
- Preheat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Place onions, cut side down, in hot, dry skillet and allow to cook without disturbing until deeply charred and blackened on the cut side.
- Transfer to a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid. Add 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Transfer dutch oven with lid to a 350 degree oven for a minimum of 1 hour and up to 3 hours (for a richer flavor), checking every hour to ensure onions are covered with liquid. Add water as necessary to keep onions submerged.
- Meanwhile, in a separate heat proof container, pour 1 quart boiling water over kombu and let it steep for an hour. Remove kombu from the container and discard, reserving the soaking water.
- Strain onion broth through a fine mesh strainer, pressing the solids to extract all the golden liquid. Combine with the reserved kombu dashi. Season with sea salt to taste.
STEW
- Prepare a fire using wood or hardwood lump charcoal in your Barebones Cowboy Grill. Allow fire to burn down to hot coals.
- Move the grill grate aside and nestle a dutch oven into the coals.
- Add several glugs of olive oil to dutch oven, then add diced onion, carrot, celery, and fennel.
- Cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften but not brown. If cast iron is too hot, remove some of the coals from underneath the pot.
- Season vegetables with salt, then add sofrito and chickpeas to pot, stirring to combine.
- Add white wine and allow to simmer away almost completely.
- Add dashi and bring to a simmer.
- Add both types of clams to the pot and place lid on top.
- Simmer stew, lifting lid and stirring occasionally, until clams open and are cooked through.
- Taste broth and season with salt if necessary.
- Add fresh herbs and drizzle generously with good olive oil.
- Serve directly out of the dutch oven with lots of crusty bread -
ABOUT
Tournant
Tournant is an open fire cooking and events company based in the Pacific Northwest created by chefs Jaret Foster and Mona Johnson. Their approach to food reflects a sense of place and ceremony, drawing inspiration from the seasons and local bounty from the land and sea.Through their immersive outdoor dining experiences and signature farm-to-fire cooking style, Jaret and Mona hope to inspire people to get outside, connect with nature and learn to care more deeply about the many hands who farm, fish, forage and craft their food.
Hama Hama
Hama Hama is a fifth-generation family-run shellfish farm on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Our beds are located at the mouth of one of the shortest, coldest, and least developed rivers in Washington State, and that purity is reflected in the clean, crisp flavor of the oysters downstream. We sell our oysters at our farm store and oyster saloon, at pop-ups throughout the Puget Sound and Portland regions, and direct to consumers and chefs across the nation. Our mission is pretty simple: utilize low impact farming methods to grow world-class oysters, have fun, and leave something good for the next guy.