Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Seafood Day 2 At Almost Heaven South - Oysters Rockefeller

The plan for this meal was a pint (I was told about 12 oysters by the sales guy) of shucked select oysters made into Oysters Rockefeller and a second pint beer battered and deep fried. I’d saved the shells from the last meal to use for the Rockefellers. I laid out the dozen best shells and opened the pint of oysters – they were huge and no way would they fit into the shells I had, so I cut some in half and ended up with 18.


I used a recipe from Cooks.com that seemed to fit what I wanted to make. Following is what I actually did, which is basically a half recipe and it was more than enough.

18 oysters in shell
1/2 c. finely chopped parsley (or equivalent dried parsley)
10 oz bag of fresh spinach
1/2 c. green onion tops
1/2 c. melted butter
5 drops Tabasco sauce
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 c. Parmesan cheese
1/3 c. Panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp Bacon bits

My directions are very different from the original recipe and this is what I did. Heat olive oil as needed to a 12” skillet, add parsley, onions, and spinach and sauté until spinach is wilted. Let cool, remove from pan and chop spinach to desired size.

Melt butter in a medium bowl and stir in Tabasco, S&P, garlic powder, Parmesan, Panko, and bacon bits (I’ll use real bacon next time). Then mix in spinach mixture and bread crumbs and split the mixture among the oysters based upon size.

The last oyster meal, Bev said they were not smoky enough, so I tossed a chunk of hickory into the fire for these - I could have used other woods, but hey, this is the South, home of hickory smoked BBQ. It generated plenty of smoke.

I cooked them for 7 minutes, did a little re-arranging and cooked for 2 more minutes. They were cooked just right and the only adjustment was adding a couple more drops of Tabasco to each oyster. Here’s my plate.

There is no doubt that the fresh shucked oysters from the previous meal had more flavor than these already shucked ones from the container and I’ll use them for the Rockefeller next time – I believe it’s the oyster liquor in the fresh ones that makes the big difference in flavor.

For the second meal in a row, the grilled oysters filled us up and even though we had the batter made for the fried oysters, we had to pass on them.

Seafood has been a big challenge for me and I’m now up to 8 seafood/fish dishes I would be willing to serve to company:

Cajun grilled shrimp
Seafood/fish scampi
Char-grilled oysters
Blackened fish
Beer battered crappie
Pan-seared catfish with brown butter on black olive toast
Oysters Rockefeller
Smoked salmon
Crab cakes ala Cathy

I’m loving our seafood-a-thon and hope The Shrimp Dock does the half price thing again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Larry

15 comments:

  1. Your oysters Rockefeller look fabulous Larry. For years my favorite birthday meal was oysters Rockefeller as an appetizer followed by fried shrimp. I can no longer eat a rich and heavy meal like that anymore.

    You sure got a good deal on seafood.
    Sam

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  2. Wow!!! We had a few hickory branches blow down in Monday's storm, so I'm planning on some good hickory smoking this summer!

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  3. Have never had oysters you just gave me a great reason to try these... they sound fantabulous!

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  4. I like your list at the end. Seafood is also a challenge for me, so I immediately opened up my database and found 6 I would serve to company. 4 of those were shrimp. I do need more practice in this area. Great post and good instructions.

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  5. I love Oysters Rockefeller. I used to frequent this oyster house out here that had THE best ever rockefellers..the oysters melted in your mouth. Great... now I want oysters rockefeller!!!
    I am envious of your access to such fresh seafood!!

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  6. Your oysters Rockefeller look delicious, Larry. I love this dish as long as the oysters are small. I've never developed a taste for the big ones.

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  7. I love oysters on the grill! Looks awesome! I'll have to try your version!

    Cheers,

    Robyn

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  8. Larry, your Oysters Rockefeller look great!!! We love it and now I have to try it myself. Looking forward to more seafood dishes, esp. to see how you do blackened fish!

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  9. Oh wow Larry, that looks so good!! Thanks for sharing your recipe! :)

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  10. While I have never acquired a taste for oysters, hubby would love these. They do look lovely!

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  11. I have only recently started liking oysters... this dish would be sure to please my palate!

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  12. I have never tried oysters, Larry;I've only had canned ones which my mother mixed in dressing at Chrismas time, so I don't know what they taste like. I'm very seafood challenged, so I enjoyed reading about your process. Keep up the good work!

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  13. Food blogging pushes us to try things we normally might not have and that is a great thing, IMHO.

    Do you know what types of hickory are generally around East TN? I was just curious because you know alot about horticulture and this area but I'm clueless.

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  14. Hey Chris - I sent you an email about the hickories.

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  15. Love your oysters Rockefeller and I'm jealous as heck. (trying to keep your G-rating)
    One of my best memories with my step-dad was cutting up a fallen hickory tree from his land in Oklahoma. He'd cut a slice then chip it up and we'd put the chips into bags (and bags and bags and bags). They lasted long after he passed away and every time I had hickory smoked chicken or ribs, I thought of that Thanksgiving weekend working on that tree.

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