The Nantucket Restaurants Cookbook is exactly that, a collection of menus from a whole host of restaurants on Nantucket Island. And for such a small island, Nantucket has a lot to offer the hungry gourmet. Samara Farber Mormar, a former chef, is a Nantucket resident and loves everything about the island. Her coauthor, Melissa Clark, is a cookbook writer and columnist for The New York Times. Together they interviewed the chefs and owners of 18 Nantucket restaurants and wrote a chapter on each.
1/2 large cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, minced
juice of 2 limes
2 strips lime zest (1 inch wide)
1 cup V-8 juice
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
6 dashes Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper
36 oysters
crushed ice or fresh greens for serving
lemon wedges
Fill a bowl with ice water. To blanch the beans, bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat, add the green beans, and cook until crisp and bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the beans, then immediately plunge them into ice water to cool. Drain and finely mince.
In a bowl, mix together the bell pepper, celery, onion, cucumber, blanched beans, and lime juice and zest and let sit for 2 or 3 minutes.
Stir in the V-8, oil, cilantro, vinegar, ginger, Tabasco, salt, and pepper and let sit for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days refrigerated).
Clean and open the oysters. Arrange them on crushed ice or fresh greens. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and add lemon wedges for garnish. Just before serving pour 1 teaspoon of the vinaigrette over each oyster.
