With the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) in remote regions, the study of highly reliable electrical collector systems (ECSs) has become increasingly important. Post-fault network recovery is considered as an effective measure of reliability enhancement. In this paper, we propose a smart switch configuration that facilitates network recovery, making it well-suited for ECSs operating in harsh environments. To accommodate the increased complexity of ECSs, a novel reliability assessment (RA) method considering detailed switch configuration is devised. This method effectively identifies the minimum outage propagation areas and incorporates post-fault network recovery strategies. The optimal normal operating state and network reconfiguration strategies that maximize ECS reliability can be obtained after optimization. Case studies on real-life OWFs validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed RA method compared with the traditional sequential Monte-Carlo simulation method. Moreover, numerical tests demonstrate that the proposed switch configuration, in conjunction with proper topology and network recovery, achieves the highest benefits across a wide range of operating conditions.