Oysters with Radish Microgreen Mignonette
A mignonette that gets its pepper from radish microgreens instead of a pepper mill. Made for a Lowcountry oyster roast, and there is no cooking in it at all.
Grown on Johns Island · Delivered from James Island · Across the Lowcountry
Why radish works here
A classic mignonette leans on cracked pepper and shallot. Radish microgreens do the same job with more life in it – the heat is clean and immediate rather than dusty, and it clears fast enough that you can taste the next oyster. It also looks like something, which a shallot in vinegar does not.
Ingredients
- •24 oysters, freshly shucked, on ice
- •1 small shallot, minced as fine as you can manage
- •1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- •1 tbsp cold water
- •A packed 1/2 cup radish microgreens, plus more for the platter
- •A pinch of sugar
- •Cracked black pepper
Method
- Put the minced shallot in a small bowl with the vinegar, water and a pinch of sugar. Leave it 10 minutes – this takes the raw edge off the shallot and is the only real waiting in the recipe.
- Chop the radish microgreens finely. You want them small enough to sit in a spoon of liquid, not draped over the shell.
- Stir the chopped greens into the vinegar just before serving, with a good grind of pepper. Do not do this early: the acid dulls both the colour and the heat within about twenty minutes.
- Shuck the oysters, keeping the liquor in the shell.
- Spoon a scant teaspoon of mignonette onto each oyster. Scatter a few whole microgreens across the platter and serve cold.
Notes from the farm
- Make the shallot-vinegar base ahead if you like, but add the greens at the last minute. This is the one step people get wrong.
- Mustard microgreens make a fiercer version of this. Arugula makes a nuttier, gentler one.
- Local oysters are usually saltier than the northern ones, so go easy on any extra salt.
Questions
How far ahead can I make the mignonette?
The shallot and vinegar base can sit for a day in the fridge and improves. The microgreens go in within minutes of serving – acid softens them and dulls the pepper quickly.
Are radish microgreens too hot for oysters?
They are peppery rather than hot, and the heat clears fast, which is exactly what you want between oysters. Use mustard microgreens if you want something that lingers, though it will start competing with the oyster.
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