Smoky “baked” oysters on the half shell

By Chef Sebastian Carosi

 

The first time I was introduced to baked oysters was on a trip to the San Francisco Bay area as a young teenager. We were outdoors on the coast with windswept seating and a huge platter of smoky oysters and an enormous loaf of artisan sourdough bread to devour them with. Shortly after, we moved to the Pacific Northwest to a microtown in Kitsap County named Seabeck, right on the shores of the Hood Canal. Lucky for me, this former mill town sits across the canal from some of the most fertile oyster flats in the world. And holy shit, to my amusement you can gather your own wild tide-tumbled oysters here in season! If you want to try harvesting oysters, I suggest getting intimate with the state rules and regulations, the local tide charts and be sure you have proper tidal oyster gear like gloves, brushes, baskets, and an oyster knife—‘cause we shuck on the beach in the Hood. 

As youngsters, we would hop in a small outboard-driven skiff and head across the almost 1½-mile-wide canal, tracing the rugged coastline with misty mountain peaks on one side and super calm rocky coastal mudflats and beaches on the other, to where Highway 101 makes its way across the canal. Almost all the inland side roads lead to mossy forests full of bubbling freshwater rivers, creeks, and streams—some with massive waterfalls. These woods are abundant with many kinds of wild mushrooms. Turn toward the long and narrow canal and you can easily see how it is the geographical point used to separate the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula. It is also a tributary for all those rivers, most notably the Skokomish, Hamma Hamma, Duckabush, Dosewallips, and the Big Quilcene. The mouths of these rivers are rich with oysters but don’t tell too many. 

One of my favourite ways to prepare fresh oysters, other than in the nude (shucked and slurped), is to grill them over an open campfire on the beach where they were harvested or bake them in a piping hot oven smothered in smoky cannabis butter. The taste is so reminiscent of those days in the Bay area. I’ve always been fascinated by how food creates so many memories. My latest tradition is to head over to the Olympic Oyster Company for a big ass bag of cocktail-sized slurpers (aka wild oysters), then to a coastal campsite where I build a fire and grill the oysters. The Pacific Northwest is a great place for quality craft cannabis, incredible wild foods, and phenomenal outdoor adventures.

 

 

  

 

Smoky “baked” oysters on the half shell

Prep time:  20 minutes

Bake time: 15-20 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Total THC/CBD: depends on the potency of the products used

Status: bangin’ baked bivalves

From the cannabis pantry: cannabis-infused butter, cannabis-infused hot sauce 

Chef’s strain recommendation: 9lb Hammer

 

Equipment 

Oven, tongs, sheet pan, serving platter, several hungry cannabis enthusiasts

 

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter

1 cup cannabis-infused butter (made in the mb2e)

2 tbsp garlic, finely minced

1 tsp lime zest

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

¼ cup chipotle adobo (the pureed contents of a can of chipotles)

1 tbsp cannabis-infused hot sauce (made in the mb2e)

½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tbsp Mexican lager

6 cups rock salt

3 dozen small to medium oysters (preferably from Olympic Oyster Company)

2 limes cut in eighths 

Fresh cannabis leaves

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°. Spread the rock salt out on a sheet pan. Make the compound butter in a food processor or mixing bowl by combining the butters, garlic, zest, lime juice, adobo, Sriracha, pepper and lager until mixed well, set aside. Place the oysters, cup-side down, on the rock salt lined sheet pan. Roast the oysters until they begin to open, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the oysters from the oven and open them, discarding the top shell. Spoon a teaspoon or so of the smoky compound butter into each oyster shell. Return the sheet pan of oysters to the oven for an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until the butter melts and the little oysters are ready to eat. Serve immediately atop fresh cannabis leaves, with fresh cut lime wedges, crusty artisan bread, a pre-roll of Pacific Northwest-grown 9lb Hammer, and plenty of beer. 

 

Equipment + product source 

www.magicalbutter.com (mb2e botanical extractor) 

  

To learn more about Chef Sebastian Carosi and his approach to cannabis cookery read our exclusive interview, Eat your damn greens! Chef Sebastain talks wildcrafting, cannabis cookery and his respect for the movement’s deep roots. Chef Sebastian generously shared this recipe with Heads Lifestyle. Now get in the kitchen and whip up something delicious! 
 

 

Photos: Chef Sebastian Carosi and Carla Asquith

More about Chef Sebastian Carosi and his projects here

Follow on Instagram at: @chef_sebatian_carosi