I don’t normally like oysters but my mother introduced me to smoked oysters and these are a revelation – richly flavoursome as well as being very convenient (you just open the tin), they give the beef an extra dimension.
Recipe for summery smoked oyster-stuffed beef with tzaziki
for six
- 3 lb/about 1½ kg rib of beef
lemon salt - 1 tin smoked oysters
- 1 banana shallot – peeled and chopped
- big bunch of fresh parsley- chopped
- lemon salt and Indonesian black pepper
- 200g/7 oz tub tzatziki
- 80ml/⅓ cup olive oil
- 500g/1 lb 2 oz baby new potatoes
- couple of bunches of spring onions (about 375g) – roughly chopped to include about an inch of the green
- 250g/8 oz frozen petits pois
- heat the oven to 220°C (use the roasting oven of the aga obviously)
- roughly chop the oysters including the oil they are in and add the parsley and the shallot
- make a few longish (2″/4 cm) cuts about an inch (couple of cm) deep and stuff the cuts with the oyster mix
- if you have any mixture left add it to a little olive oil and salt and pepper and massage the meat with the oil
- cook the meat for about half an hour (take care not to overcook – if it’s thin then it will cook more quickly)
- take it out, cover with foil and leave for about 15 minutes.
MEANWHILE
- hopefully you will have bought baby new potatoes which are not much more than an inch and a half (3 cm) long, but if you haven’t, clean them (very quick if you use a prep-a-lot) cut them all to be about this size and the same size.
- par boil for ten minutes maximum, drain
- in a medium to large saucepan put the rest of the olive oil and fry the potatoes and spring onions for about five minutes
- add the peas (straight from the freezer)
