A rockpool of my childhood - so very, very poetic

Oysters from Venø – a la plancha. Gel’ed water – shellfish and sea vegetables.

Paul Cunningham

For 4 people

For the marinated green elderberry
500 g green elderberry
100 g seasalt
½l apple vinegar
500 g sugar

4 large oysters from Venø
12 raw, sweet ‘Skaw’ shrimps from Sweden
Langoustines from the island of Læsø
8 blue line mussels & cockles, poached in sea/mineral water 50/50
young seaweed, beach cabbage & samphire from Sejerø and Gotland
1 tea spoon marinated green elderberries
1 table spoon fresh apple vinaigre from Lilleø (not aged)
4 table spoon unfiltered olive oil from Arbequina olives – Cordoba
4 table spoon double cream from Grambogaard, Fyn
agar-agar

 

The green elderberries should be washed well, dried and salted overnight.
Wash them lightly quickly and free them from salt. Warm the vinaigre and dissolve the sugar. Marinate the elderberries in a minimum of one month and preferably over the winter.

The oysters are roasted a la plancha. All of the different fish waters are lightly gel’ed with a little mineral water and agar. Serve the fish and the water gel with the sea herbs - green elderberry, vinagre, olive oil and double cream.

For me the oysters that I get from the Danish island of Venø are placed at the very top of my pops! Together with the wonderful langoustine from the equally wonderful Læsø, Mr.Wiuff’s new season sweetcorn and my white asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries from the village of Helnæs. A happy boy am I when products like these come a’knocking at my kitchen door.
Venø oysters have a fresh, sea, metallic start with a superb delicate creamed yet meaty middle taste. A sour-like shot balances the animals violent vulgarity. Called Whitstable oysters in Blighty and Belon in France – Ostrea edulis.
Oysters from the Limfjord are deeper and richer in taste that their counterparts – in the cold fjord waters they develop slower and within these areas receive ideal nutrients for this growth. The oysters are caught within specifically protected areas of water that are free from aggressive algie and micro organisms. An oyster from these waters will be ready for consumption at around 2 to 3 years of age.