Grilled Oysters with Bacon Butter.

Although oysters are a delicacy and are delicious to eat raw, they're also wonderful when cooked. You still get the delicate flavour of the oyster, but with layers of others that make a perfect appetiser to your meal. If you're not confident with handling oysters at home, just watch our 'How to shuck' tutorial by clicking here.

When grilling oysters, you want to use flavours that won't be overpowering and just complement the mollusc. It's easy to get carried away and you lose the flavour you love - so there's no point in doing it! As it's just been Chinese New Year, and the year of the pig, I wanted to do something with bacon. You usually see scallops and bacon together but not necessarily oysters. I've made the bacon butter before, but have put it with monkfish or cod as that's a fantastic combination! It's so easy to make, plus, there's loads left that you can have with meat, fish or just on toast as a snack!

Ingredients:

• 1 block of unsalted butter.
• 1 medium brown onion diced.
• 7 rashes of smoked streaky bacon diced.
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed.
• A bunch of fresh thyme.
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.
• Pepper.
• 4 shucked rock oysters.
• Mixed leaf salad.
• Balsamic glaze.

Method:

1. Heat some oil up in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
2. Add the bacon and the thyme. Stir thoroughly. Season with pepper. Cook on medium for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the thyme from the pan and take off the heat. Add the Worcestershire sauce. Pour the mix into a large mixing bowl.
4. Using an electric whisk, whisk in the butter. Put in a container and refridgerate for around 3 hours.
5. Shuck the oysters and place on a grilling tray. Top each oyster with 1 tbsp of the butter. 
6. Grill for 3 minutes and serve with salad and some lemon.