Oysters With Spicy Garlic Butter

I’m trying to remember how I chose this oyster dish to start our Christmas Eve meal last week. There’s an entire chapter devoted to oysters in John Besh’s My New Orleans, and I wanted to make every single recipe. I believe I decided to try this one first just because it’s so incredibly easy and it wouldn’t keep me in the kitchen for long. The oyster gratin could also have been served as an hors d’oeuvre with the breadcrumb topping applied to each half shell, and it wouldn’t have taken much longer. The oyster and artichoke soup could have mostly been prepared in advance and would have been delicious. The crispy fried oyster salad was another option, but I’d love to get some Louisiana caviar to present that dish properly. And, that’s just some of the oyster chapter. The book is divided seasonally starting with crawfish and Mardi Gras dishes, moving on to feast days and shrimp season, then fish followed by summer vegetables and crab season. There’s a chapter for gumbos and one for Thanksgiving, one for pork since Chef Besh raises his own hogs, and a final chapter for Reveillon or the feast served on Christmas Eve. It’s a beautiful book, and I’m enjoying cooking from it.

For these oysters, the intention was to grill them to impart some smokiness, but I was too lazy for that. I broiled them instead. A compound butter was made with garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, chopped chives, thyme leaves, and lemon juice. Slices of that butter were placed on top of each shucked oyster in its half shell, and then the oysters were broiled for a few minutes until they started to curl. They went from broiler to plate to our mouths in minutes.

These were simply fresh, spicy, and garlicy, and I should have made a dozen or so more than I did. I can’t wait to taste them off the grill when I make this again. I’ve tried a couple of other things from the book including the fall greens salad with blue cheese and pumpkin seed brittle. The vinaigrette with sherry vinegar and walnut oil was nutty and lovely with the blue cheese and cayenne-spiced pepita brittle. Also, the green tomato and pepper jam was sweet, tart, spicy, and just what some goat cheese on crostini needed. I’m already looking forward to Mardi Gras and strawberry season and all the other reasons to use this book throughout the coming year.

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