Italian Oysters?

[Recoil Rob]

I have a wealth of oysters from LI Sound and would like some new ways on cooking them. I see many recipes from France but few from Italy. I would love to hear of some Italian preparations for oysters.

Thanks, Rob

[Kevin72]

The Gulf of Taranto, the instep of the heel, has a very rich oyster bed. Consequently there's many Pugliese recipes for oysters. But, in my opinion, they're treated similar to mussels in most regards: broiled or grilled on the halfshell with a breadcrumb and pecorino topping.

On the opposite end of the eastern side of Italy, up in Venice, there's a couple of recipes from the Da Fiore cookbook. One is very similar to the preceding recipe: breadcrumbs and parmigiano this time, then broiled. They also have a tasty papardelle recipe that involves shelled oysters, the liquors(sp?), saffron, speck, and leeks.

But probably the most Italian way with impeccably fresh oysters isn't too far off from what you're already familiar with: shelled and eaten raw, with a jot of fresh lemon juice or olive oil and that's it.

[KateinChicago]

I have a wealth of oysters from LI Sound and would like some new ways on cooking them. I see many recipes from France but few from Italy. I would love to hear of some Italian preparations for oysters.

I don't know if this qualifies as "Italian" but Italian is my ethnic origin on my father's side and the preparation has garlic, fried fresh breadcrumbs, Italian (flatleaf) parsley and lemon juice. For my mother's 80th birthday party my sister sent us 6 dozen oysters (3 dozen Kumamoto and 3 dozen of a different and larger but equally mild variety whose name escapes me at the moment) from Seattle. We only had one proper Oyster knife between the three of us who actually knew how to shuck oysters. These babies were fresh and seemingly welded shut. After shucking 2 1/2 dozen we gave up and served them with a mignonette sauce, a cocktail-horseradish sauce and fresh lemons. Two of my siblings present for the feast cannot consume raw oysters even though they'd dearly love to so I promised to bake or grill the remainder the next day (secretly hoping the oysters would be less tenacious of life to yield more readily).

The still defiant oysters required a short bath in sparkling water to "drunken" them up enough to open easily (I was amazed how well this trick worked!). This simple but absolutely delicious concoction is what I came up with from the ingredients left-over from our gargantuan food extravaganza of the day before.

For 3 dozen oysters:

4 cloves garlic minced

1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs

6 tbl butter (unsalted)

lots of fresh lemon juice

minced Italian parsley (to taste)

Sea salt to taste

Turn oven onto low broil. Saute garlic over medium to medium-low heat in the butter until soft. Add bread crumbs to the mixture and fry for a few minutes. To this I added a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and some of the nectar from the oysters and cooked for a few more minutes. (There was no rock salt in the larder and the oysters would have spilled too much of the nectar onto the sheet pan unsupported by salt so I just poured off a small quantity from each oyster into the saute pan). Off the heat add the minced parsley and salt and stir. Depending on the size of the oysters spread a teaspoon size dollop (for the kumamoto) or more for the larger. Place under the broiler and watch carefully to insure that the bread crumbs don't burn, until the edgs of the oysters start to wrinkle (about 5 minutes maximum). Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges.

Now I'm hungry for oysters

Kate

[Recoil Rob]

Thanks Kate, I'll give it a try next time.

Please elaborate o the "sparkling water "technique, I haven't heard of that.

FYI, if I'm ever short of rock salt to hold oysters or clams I take a sheet of aluminum foil that's about 2-3 times as long as my baking sheet and fold it into a 1' accordion fold. I then stretch it open enough to cover the sheet so it has peaks and valleys. You can then push the shells down onto the foil and it will mold the foil to hold the shells.

Rob

I have a wealth of oysters from LI Sound and would like some new ways on cooking them. I see many recipes from France but few from Italy. I would love to hear of some Italian preparations for oysters.

I don't know if this qualifies as "Italian" but Italian is my ethnic origin on my father's side and the preparation has garlic, fried fresh breadcrumbs, Italian (flatleaf) parsley and lemon juice. For my mother's 80th birthday party my sister sent us 6 dozen oysters (3 dozen Kumamoto and 3 dozen of a different and larger but equally mild variety whose name escapes me at the moment) from Seattle. We only had one proper Oyster knife between the three of us who actually knew how to shuck oysters. These babies were fresh and seemingly welded shut. After shucking 2 1/2 dozen we gave up and served them with a mignonette sauce, a cocktail-horseradish sauce and fresh lemons. Two of my siblings present for the feast cannot consume raw oysters even though they'd dearly love to so I promised to bake or grill the remainder the next day (secretly hoping the oysters would be less tenacious of life to yield more readily).

The still defiant oysters required a short bath in sparkling water to "drunken" them up enough to open easily (I was amazed how well this trick worked!). This simple but absolutely delicious concoction is what I came up with from the ingredients left-over from our gargantuan food extravaganza of the day before.

For 3 dozen oysters:

4 cloves garlic minced

1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs

6 tbl butter (unsalted)

lots of fresh lemon juice

minced Italian parsley (to taste)

Sea salt to taste

Turn oven onto low broil. Saute garlic over medium to medium-low heat in the butter until soft. Add bread crumbs to the mixture and fry for a few minutes. To this I added a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and some of the nectar from the oysters and cooked for a few more minutes. (There was no rock salt in the larder and the oysters would have spilled too much of the nectar onto the sheet pan unsupported by salt so I just poured off a small quantity from each oyster into the saute pan). Off the heat add the minced parsley and salt and stir. Depending on the size of the oysters spread a teaspoon size dollop (for the kumamoto) or more for the larger. Place under the broiler and watch carefully to insure that the bread crumbs don't burn, until the edgs of the oysters start to wrinkle (about 5 minutes maximum). Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges.

Now I'm hungry for oysters

Kate

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[KateinChicago]

Thanks Kate, I'll give it a try next time.

Please elaborate o the "sparkling water "technique, I haven't heard of that.

I found this idea at some oyster site on the internet but had never had the opportunity/necessity of using it until I tried opening these oysters. From what I read the carbonation actually sort of "inebriated" the oysters causing them to loosen up. Anyway the recommendation was to place the oysters in a container and cover with seltzer or sparkling water for about five minutes. Some of the larger ones required more like 10 minutes but they popped right open with significantly less effort. I personally shucked 3 1/2 dozen in about 30 minutes whereas the day before it took 3 of us 30 plus minutes to shuck 2 1/2 dozen. Before soaking in the seltzer I couldn't open the first 3 I tried. 1/2 dozen of the oysters on the second day were eaten raw and I tasted no flavor difference but perhaps an expert would.

FYI, if I'm ever short of rock salt to hold oysters or clams I take a sheet of aluminum foil that's about 2-3 times as long as my baking sheet and fold it into a 1' accordion fold. I then stretch it open enough to cover the sheet so it has peaks and valleys. You can then push the shells down onto the foil and it will mold the foil to hold the shells.

What a great idea! Thanks!

Kate