Oysters Gratinéed on a Leek Fondue with Champagne Sabayon

Leek fondue

• 50 g butter
• 3 leeks, white and pale green, halved, washed, thinly sliced
• 80 ml cream
• 0 to taste salt, a pinch
• 0 to taste black pepper

Oysters

• 12 oysters, shucked, deeper bottom shells reserved; liquor strained

Champagne sabayon

• 3 egg yolks
• 60 ml Champagne, or dry sparkling wine
• 30 ml reserved oyster liquor, from poaching
• 80 g butter, melted
• 5 ml lemon juice
• 0 to taste salt, a pinch

To gratin

• 500 g coarse salt, to bed the shells on the tray

Leek fondue

1. 1

   Melt 50 g butter in a pan over low heat. Add 3 leeks (white and pale green, halved, washed, thinly sliced) with a pinch of salt. Sweat gently, stirring, ~10 min until completely soft and silky — no colour at all.

   10mlow

   Keep the leeks colourless — browning brings a bitterness that fights the delicate oysters.

   Leek Fondue (The Slow Sweat)
2. 2

   Add 80 ml cream and cook until thick and creamy; season with black pepper. Set aside warm.

   4m

Oysters

1. 3

   Shuck 12 oysters, keeping the deeper bottom shells. Strain all the liquor through a fine sieve into a small pan. Poach the oysters in their liquor over very low heat ~1 min, just until the edges firm. Lift out and reserve 30 ml of the poaching liquor for the sabayon.

   8mvery lowoyster knifefine sievesmall pan

   Never let the liquor simmer — a bare poach firms the edges without toughening the oyster.

   Poaching Oysters in Their Own Liquor

Champagne sabayon

1. 4

   To the Thermomix bowl add 3 egg yolks, 60 ml Champagne (or dry sparkling wine) and the reserved 30 ml oyster liquor. Set 80 °C, speed 4, 8 min, until thick, foamy and coating the spoon. A bain-marie works identically.

   8m80 °CThermomix or bain-mariewhisk

   Sabayon (Warm Emulsion)
2. 5

   Switch to speed 3, no heat, and pour in 80 g melted butter in a thin stream until fully emulsified — smooth, glossy, pale yellow, no butter streaks. Add 5 ml lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Pulse to combine.

   3m

   Stream the butter in slowly off the heat — too fast or too hot and the sabayon splits or scrambles.

Assemble and gratin

1. 6

   Heat the grill (broiler) to high. Spread 500 g coarse salt on a tray and nestle the clean shells level in it.

   3mhigh
2. 7

   Spoon a bed of leek fondue into each shell, set a poached oyster on top, then blanket each completely with sabayon.

   4m
3. 8

   Flash under the hot grill ~1–2 min until puffed and lightly golden — watch closely, it turns fast. Serve immediately on the salt bed.

   2mhigh

   The sabayon gilds in seconds under the grill — do not walk away.