One of the many benefits of living on the coast is the ample amount of seafood and the lack of effort to takes to get it. Not only is it easy to find, but when you start asking around its surprising how many people actually harvest or find their own whether it’s catching their own crabs or fishing for dinner. My dad’s friend actually grows his own oysters off his dock on the eastern shore of MD so we’re pretty lucky to have a contact for oysters. When you live in DC and oysters are typically $2.00 a piece, free oysters is a serious gold mine. This winter he brought my dad over 4 dozen for us to take to enjoy.
My dad mentioned this to me a few days before I headed to my sister’s house and I drove home grinning at the chance to shuck and eat oysters in the comfort of our own backyard. A delicacy most only enjoys at expensive restaurants. When I got home and went to take a peek at the little cuties I realized…they were not so little. These were the BIGGEST oysters I’ve ever seen or eaten. With excitement and complete lack of patience, I changed (shucking is hard and smelly), grabbed my dad and a radio and we got to work. You want to make sure you use a good oyster knife too! Scrubbing the shells and opening the oysters takes a good amount of time so in market defense, I completely understand the pricing in restaurants. We removed the meat from the bottom of its shell and put a splash of our Bloody Mary’s I’d made everyone that morning, and downed the first two. Salty, briny, and absolutely delicious. Worth the work for sure.
Now that you have your own raw oysters on hand, here are a couple recipes we use and love. If you’re looking for a little bit of kick and chargrill flavor try the Grilled Oyster recipe smothered in delicious butter. If you’re looking for the more recognizable Oysters Rockefeller, try the second recipe, oven broiled with cheese. yuuummmmm.
Seriously, look how massive these are!
Grilled Oysters with Seasoned Butter Sauce & Oysters Rockefeller
Ingredients
- Grilled Oysters with Seasoned Butter Sauce
- 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped plus extra for garnish
- 1 1/5 sticks unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- Oysters Rockefeller
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
- 1 cup butter
- 2 tbsp bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- fresh parsley
Instructions
- Grilled Oysters with Seasoned Butter Sauce
- For the seasoned butter: Place parsley, butter, garlic, Worcestershire, hot sauce, lemon juice in a blender and pulse ingredients until incorporated.
- For the oysters: Heat the grill until about 400 degrees F.
- Top each oyster with a liberal amount of butter mixture. Grill until the butter is melted and the oysters are starting to get some color, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the oysters from the grill with tongs and place them onto a cookie sheet or a heat-proof surface.
- Oysters Rockefeller
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Heat olive oil in a pan and saute garlic for 30 seconds, add chopped red onion and saute until onions start to become translucent. Add butter and stir just until butter is melted.
- Ladle butter and onion mixture of each oyster, top with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and place in the oven. Cook just until cheese is melted, roughly 10 minutes. Top with fresh parsley and serve on a tray lined with large salt chunks.
Tips for oysters:
1.Use an oyster knife to open your oysters. This is not the time to try other tools that “may work”, that’s how a screwdriver goes through your hand or shells end up in your oysters. I love our, just $6.99.
2.Unopened oysters will last one to two days in the fridge on ice.
3. Try your oysters raw first!
4. If a raw oyster is open and doesn’t close when you when you tap it with another oyster’s shell, it means it’s dead.
5. Close to water? Throw your oyster shells back in! It’s a new home for the next oyster.
What’s your favorite oyster recipe?
