Oysters Bienville Recipe 55

Steps:

• Sauté the chopped shallots in the butter and slowly stir over a very low heat until the onions are well cooked, but not brown. Sprinkle the shallots with the flour and cook until the flour begins to brown. Add the chicken broth and the mushrooms and mix well. Beat the egg yolk into the wine and add to the chicken broth mixture, beating all the while. Season with the salt and cayenne, and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes.
• Heat a pan of ice cream salt in a 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. Place the oysters on the half shell in the hot ice cream salt and return to the oven for about 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce over each oyster and sprinkle with a mixture of the bread crumbs and cheese. Return to the oven and bake until the bread crumb mixture is lightly browned. Two dozen oysters served this way will serve four.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat and saute' the mushroom until tender. Drain and set aside. Drain the oysters, reserving 1 cup of the liquor (or substitute milk or chicken broth). Cover a large baking dish (or as many baking dishes as you need) with rock salt. Fit as many oyster shells as you can in each dish. Place an oyster in each shell. (You may also use ramekins, placing 4 oysters in each one) Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter in a 9 inch skillet over medium heat. Saute' the green onions and garlic for 5 minutes. SLowly add the flour and stir to make a smooth mixture. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks, and stir in the parsley and cream. Stir the yolk mixture into the green onion and flour mixture, blending them well. Add the 1 cup of oyster liquor and cook over low heat, stirring, until it becomes a thick, creamy sauce. To the sauce, add the drained chopped mushroom, cheese, and salt. Stir until the cheese is melted and well blended. Spoon this sauce over the oysters and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake for 15 minutes, or until browned. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Steps:

• To make the sauce: in a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat and bring almost to a boil, watching it carefully so that it doesn't boil over.
• Remove pan from heat and reserve.
• Meanwhile, place another small pan over medium heat; add in 2 tablespoons butter.
• When the butter has melted and the foam begins to subside, sprinkle in the flour, stir the mixture to blend, and immediately turn the heat down to med-low.
• Continue stirring while the mixture bubbles for two minutes.
• Gradually whisk in the reserved warm milk, raise the heat to med-high, and bring to a boil, whisking continuously.
• Reduce to a bare simmer and add a pinch of nutmeg and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring regularly, for 15 minutes.
• The sauce should be very thick but still pourable.
• Whisk in a small quantity of milk if you think it needs thinning.
• Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl and set the sauce aside.
• Place plastic wrap directly on sauce to keep a skin from forming.
• Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
• Add in green peppers, scallions, and garlic; cook gently for 5 minutes (do not let the vegetables brown).
• Add in the wine; increase the heat to med-high; let it reduce by half.
• Add in pimentos, cheese, breadcrumbs, cayenne, a few grindings of black pepper, a pinch of salt, and the reserved cream sauce, stirring to incorporate the mixture.
• Decrease the heat to medium-low and let the sauce gently simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• When finished, it should be almost, but not quite, the consistency of mayonnaise.
• Taste the sauce for salt and adjust.
• Transfer sauce to a small bowl; set aside.
• Divide half the rock salt between 4 dinner plates, each large enough to hold 6 oysters; distribute the salt evenly on each plate; set plates aside.
• Divided the remaining salt between two roasting pans, each large enough to hold a dozen oysters in one layer; distribute the salt as you did for the plates.
• Open the top, flat side of each oyster; retain in each shell as much of the oyster liquor as possible.
• Discard the top shell and free each oyster from its muscle.
• Transfer each oyster in its bottom shell to the salt-lined roasting pans.
• Arrange the oven racks to accommodate both pans and preheat oven to 400°.
• Place 2 teaspoons of the sauce on top of each oyster, if they are medium-size (a little more if they are larger, a little less if they are smaller).
• The mixture should almost, but not quite, cover the meat of the oyster.
• Place the pans with the oysters in the oven and cook about 20 minutes, until there is a lively bubbling at the edges of the oysters.
• When the oysters are done, let them cool for 2 minutes, then, wearing rubber gloves or with the help of a large spoon, carefully transfer 6 oysters to each of the salt-lined dinner plates.
• Garnish each plate with a lemon wedge and serve immediately.
• **Alternative cooking method: preheat broiler; place one pan under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until the oysters are bubbling on top; repeat with second pan; proceed as directed.

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes.
• Add the onions, salt, and cayenne and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
• Add the garlic and butter, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until the butter melts.
• Add the flour and, stirring slowly and constantly, cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the milk and wine and stir to blend.
• Reduce the heat to medium, then add the mushrooms and shrimp.
• Stir and fold to mix and cook until the mixture is very thick, about 12 minutes.
• Add the lemon juice, green onions, and parsley and stir to mix well.
• Remove from the heat, add the beaten egg yolks, and blend well.
• Let cool to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Arrange the reserved oyster shells on a bed of rock salt in 4 pie pans or on a large baking sheet.
• Put an oyster in each shell and top it with about 2 heaping tablespoons of the sauce.
• Or, the oysters can be put in a shallow pan (without the shells and rock salt) and topped with the sauce to bake.
• Bake until the sauce is delicately browned and the oysters begin to curl at the edges, about 20 minutes.
• Serve hot.