Recipe: Hot oysters in a Jurançon sabayon

1- Open the oysters, take them off the shells and keep the oysters in their sea water.

2- Cut the zucchini in very tiny cubes ('mirepoix' in French) and fry them during 1 minute with 1 soupspoon of olive oil in a pan. Season with table salt and pepper and distribute this crunchy 'mirepoix'into the shells.

3- Boil the wine during 2 minutes in a saucepan with the shallot, then add the drained oysters. Transfer them into a sieve when the wine is boiling again. Keep the cooking liquid.

4- Put 1 oyster per shell on top of the zuccini mirepoix.

5- Pour the liquid (see above in 4.)in a pan, add the yolks and stir the mixture (the pan has to be in a bain marie on the hot plate/hob) to cook it and to introduce air in it : you get a salted sabayon. Take it off the heat, add the cream and the 'ras el hanout' and gently blend. Put the oyster shells on a baking tray covered with coarse salt. Top with the sabayon and put them under the grill into your oven until they are browned and serve.

This is outstanding !

(*) Note of the translator : Jurançon is a city and a wine area in the SouthWest of France, near Pau and close to the Pyrénées mountains, famous for its naturally sweet (but also 'nervous') white wine. In France, we say that Sauternes is a liquorous wine and that Jurançon is a mellow wine.

(**)ras el hanout is a North African blend of numerous spices, the key ones being curcuma, ginger, cardamon, cumin(caraway), nutmeg and coriander. One of the main use of it is in the preparation of the couscous.

(Note of the translator : in arabic language, 'ras el hanout' means 'head of the shop').