Oysters Madison

I hate to admit when I'm wrong. Here it goes, I was wrong about seafood. For almost 30 years I was sure I hated it. In the past year I've probably consumed more seafood than I have in the past 3 decades. Turns out sushi is good and apparently I think shellfish is pretty amazing when done correctly.

So in my never ending battle to keep from cooking the same things over and over I thought I would give something new a try. Up until now I've never made oysters nor have I ever tried them. There is something about shellfish that had me grossed out. To me it always looked like something you would only eat if you were dared to and not cuz you wanted to. After eating this, my opinion has been changed and once again I've gone the way of the pig and want to stuff my face with them.

I thought I did a fairly good job opening these suckers. No major cuts to my hand but I did get a few small ones in my thumb. My fault though. Don't be dumb like me; use a towel to hold them. To get them open I used a butter knife. Slide it in the back of the oyster where it hinges and work it around to get it open. When you have it open slide your knife under the oyster to separate it from the muscle holding it to the shell.

 Here's what I'm talking about. When I took this pic I was thinking "Ick. This looks gross." Now I want to slurp that mess up. So after you open the oysters put them and their juice in a bowl. Pick them up and shake them around a bit to get any grit off them and set them aside.  Sauté the shallot in 1 tablespoon of butter until soft and then slowly pour the oyster juice in the pan being careful not pour out any of the small pieces of shell and grit. Let the liquid lightly simmer and reduce by half. At this point I took the liquid off the heat to cool while I did the spinach.

I'm spaced taking pics of the spinach so just use your imagination. I heated the oil in a large sauté pan and through in the spinach, garlic and ginger with a little salt and pepper. Cooked it down for about five minutes or so and boom-done. Back to the Oysters. Now you can put your pan with the oyster liquor and wine back on the heat. I'd say about med-high. This is only going to take 2-3 minutes to cook. While they are cooking take the cooked spinach and put a layer on a plate for the shells to sit on and put a little but in each shell too. By the time you have this done the oysters will probably be ready. They won't be well done but heated through at this point. They are fine to eat raw so please don't overcook them. You'll just end up with tough, chewy oysters. Put an oyster in each shell.

Now, back to the sauce. If I could I would make a batch of this just to drink. The final product is a mix of wine, the ocean and butter. Who could hate it? So crack the heat up and get the liquid boiling and whisk in the butter. The boiling will emulsify the butter, wine and oyster juice making a creamy sauce for your oysters. This won't take long. Once the butter is melted its done. Spoon that sauce over each of the oysters to fill them.





Look at the bottom right oyster in the last pic. See the goofy looking part that’s separated? That's the mantle. Raw, the mantle will fall on itself. It a good indicator that they are done when they stay separated.

One last thing I forgot to add before I posted this. After you clean up your shells put them in the oven the heat up before you use them. They'll help keep your food warm longer.

12 oysters and their liquor

1 C dry white wine

1 T unsalted butter

1 shallot

1 6oz bag of baby spinach

1 T chopped garlic

1 T chopped ginger

2 T unsalted butter