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| Oysters Rockefeller – a special Valentine's Day treat but also an impressive dinner party appetizer |
My hubby and I have a long-standing tradition of eating oysters on Valentine’s Day. Usually we’ll have them straight-up, but this year we wanted to try out a new Oysters Rockefeller recipe. We really fell in love with Oysters Rockeller when we were on our honeymoon in Bermuda in 2011, where we indulged in them on more than one night at the famed Waterlot Inn. We’ve since experimented with lots of different recipes but none have had the right balance of brininess to creaminess and most were over-the-top complicated. These beauties are from Garde Manger by Canadian culinary rock star Chuck Hughes. We loved that they were simple and super, super delicious. We only made a few tweaks: halving the recipe because there were just the two of us (the original called for 48 oysters), using panko instead of regular bread crumbs and switching out regular Dijon for some from a specialty jar of Maille with Chablis and Black Truffles that we got over the holidays in Europe, which made them ultra decadent.
Oysters Rockefeller
*adapted from Garde Manger by Chuck Hughes
*adapted from Garde Manger by Chuck Hughes
1 cup 35% Cream
24 fresh oysters
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 lb fresh spinach
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup panko
1. In a saucepan, reduce cream by half. Meanwhile, working over a fine sieve set over a medium pot, shuck the oysters, letting the liquor drain into the pot. Put the oysters in the pot. Set aside the rounded bottom of the shells (we gave our a good scrub). Poach the oysters in their liquor for 30 sec. until firm.
24 fresh oysters
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 lb fresh spinach
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup panko
1. In a saucepan, reduce cream by half. Meanwhile, working over a fine sieve set over a medium pot, shuck the oysters, letting the liquor drain into the pot. Put the oysters in the pot. Set aside the rounded bottom of the shells (we gave our a good scrub). Poach the oysters in their liquor for 30 sec. until firm.
2. Remove oysters from the pot and set aside in bowl. Return pot to heat and reduce oyster liquor by half; add the reduced cream, Dijon and half the Parm. Set aside.
3. In a skillet over low heat, cook the spinach in a bit of water for a few min. until wilted. Wring the water out of the spinach and chop finely. Add to the cream mixture.
4. Melt butter in a skillet. Cook panko until golden.
5. Preheat broiler (500ºF). Spread some course salt in the bottom of a baking dish and place the oyster shells on the salt. Place an oyster in each shell. Top oysters with spinach cream mixture, panko and remaining Parm. Broil on top rack for a couple of min. until the top is golden and cheese is melted and bubbly.
Hi all. I made a couple of minor updates based on a few questions from a friend about broiling. If you don't have a "broil" setting on your oven, whack it up to its highest temp (should be 500ºF). Place the oysters on the top rack, making sure they're not touching the heat source. They only need a couple of minutes – you're not really cooking them, just nicely browning the breadcrumbs and cheese onto and heating them through.
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