Don't be so shellfish!

I love raw oysters! I was probably around ten years old when I remember slurping my first one on the back lawn while my father shucked them; it was summer, and I think that my uncle Everett had brought them from PEI. My father gave me a tutorial on how to eat them right out of the shell, and now I can't imagine eating them any other way. Some people like them with lemon juice or tabasco sauce, but I'll take mine plain. This evening our oysters came from Mabou Harbour up Route 19, and they were delicious and sweet.

Oysters were just the appetizers, and then Daniel got down to making Coquilles St. Jacques for the very first time. So the legend goes that St. James, after whom the coquilles are named, rescued a knight who fell overboard at sea; when the knight was pulled from the ocean, he was covered in shells. Lucky for him and us.

Daniel picked up the scallops at the Arichat Seafood Market and I rounded up the mushrooms, shallots, cream, cheese, and tarragon for the sauce on my way home from work, along with a bottle of Patisserie Chardonnay Muscat. Making Coquilles St. Jacques was labour-intensive (for Daniel) but the results were delectable. He was so inspired that he even came up with the title for this post too!

Shop this post: Oysters - Mabou Oysters; Scallops - Arichat Seafood Market; Patisserie Muscat