This recipe is a combination of two recipes that were shared with me by word of mouth. The first recipe was described to me last spring by the octogenarian mother of my girl friend Suze. Sue's mom's recipe emphasized the importance of fresh butter, minimal ingredients to allow the delicate flavor of the oysters to prevail and finally carefully cooking oysters in simmering milk bath as the last step and removing from the heat as soon as the oysters appear to feather at the edges to avoid over cooking them. Lari Robling of WHYY's radio program FIT once shared her favorite cod chowder recipe with me. Lari's cod chowder was the inspiration for the technique of layering minimal ingredients to extract the most flavor from each ingredient without complicating the recipe and risking over powering the light fresh flavor of the seafood. Oysters like fresh cod are subtle and delicate in their sweetness and savoriness. My thanks to Lari and Dorthy for sharing their time and knowledge with me.
Ingredients:10 medium oysters-raw
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 large fresh yellow onion-diced
6 med/lg fresh yellow potatoes-peeled
Water
2 cups fresh raw* whole milk
2 Tbs white flour
1/2 Tbs sea salt
1/2 Tbs white pepper
Paprika and fresh dill sprigs to garnish
Mix:
Add butter and onion to a hot large 4 qt or larger stainless steel soup pot. Saute until onions are clear not browned. Add diced potato to onions. Potatoes should be cut in half then thickly sliced into scalloped rounds then in half again to create 1/4 inch thick quarter round scalloped potatoes. Add just enough water to barely cover potato such that some potato may be sort of exposed on top even when you press them flatly down into the onions. Boil covered and reduce heat to simmer once boiling. Simmer 5 minutes to soften potatoes and onions. Potatoes should be aldente and not fully soft when milk and flour is added. Combine the milk and flour using a wire whisk to avoid lumps. Add to the hot cooked pot when potatoes are aldente. Stir and bring to a gentle simmer uncovered; please don't boil any more during this recipe. You may want to hang out with the stew at this point to watch carefully as avoid another boil. Add pepper not salt. Shuck oysters and place in a bowl with their juices. When milk and other ingredients are showing signs of steaming and lightly beginning to froth without boiling, add sea salt then stir and add oysters with juice and stir again. Check oysters quickly for feathering. Usually takes about 2-3 minutes. Remove pot from heat and serve with a dash of paprika and some torn sprigs of fresh dill in each bowl.
I used 6 gigantic oysters for this recipe and chopped them a bit while in their bowl of juices. Last night Suze, my family and I enjoyed this sweet and creamy fall oyster stew.
The Gravelling Point, NJ oysters were an ideal and even-colored ivory shellfish to compliment the other fresh and local ingredients used.
*optional
Happy Thanksgiving!
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