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Oysters Rockefeller

Course Aperitif dinner, Appetizer, Fingerfood
Cuisine North America
Keyword Oyster
Servings 24 oysters

Ingredients

  • 70 g butter divided, plus melted butter for drizzling over the oysters before baking
  • 80 g fennel finely diced
  • 1 teaspoon garlic minced
  • 80 ml Pernod
  • 300 g spinach cleaned
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 40 ml heavy cream plus 2 teaspoons
  • 24 medium oysters
  • 60 g bread crumbs white, fresh

Instructions

  1. In a straight-sided sauté pan, melt 40g butter over medium heat. Add the fennel and garlic, and sweat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Increase the heat and add the Pernod. Continue cooking until the Pernod has evaporated, about 1 minute.
  2. Stir in the spinach and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach wilts and any liquid from the spinach has evaporated, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and cook until the cream thickens and coats the spinach, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the remaining 30 g of butter, stirring until the butter emulsifies with the cream. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed, then remove to another dish to cool.
  3. Before finishing the dish, heat the oven to 180° C.
  4. Shuck the oysters (oysters and clams need to be washed thoroughly before any type of preparatioand lay them on a bed of rock salt on a gratin dish.
  5. Cover each oyster with approximately one-half tbsp of the spinach mixture. Sprinkle fresh bread crumbs over each oyster, then top with a light drizzle of melted butter. For a better crust, top with a second layer of bread crumbs, gently pressing them into the butter to moisten.
  6. Bake the oysters for 3 minutes if using room-temperature Rockefeller mixture. Remove and finish the oysters under the broiler until the crust is nicely browned, 1 to 3 minutes.

Recipe Notes

Oysters Rockefeller consists of oysters on the half-shell that have been topped with a rich sauce of butter, parsley and other green herbs, and bread crumbs, then baked or broiled. Lemon wedges are the typical garnish.
The original sauce may or may not include spinach, a popular shortcut for achieving the dish's signature bright green color. Many contemporary adaptations use diced oysters instead of whole. Also, diced bacon often appears as a non-traditional topping in addition to or in place of the sauce.
The dish appears as a popular restaurant appetizer throughout the United States and is served as a brunch item in the South.

Recipe by https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-masterclass-rec2-20131102-story.html
Photography by Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times