R is for Oysters

“Obviously, if you don’t love life you can’t enjoy an oyster.”
-Eleanor Clark, The Oysters of Locmariaquer

I saw this quote in an ad a few weeks ago, and it prompted me to learn about Clark's book, which is now on my "to do" list. It also made me hungry for oysters (and yes, I do love life) but I found myself looking for an “r” in August, to no avail.

You’ve heard that old saying, right? Don’t eat oysters in a month that doesn’t have an “r” in it. I’m not saying it’s true, but I am saying that in general, when it comes to advice, folklore and general wisdom about seafood, I take heed. One bad experience with mussels in Belgium (and the week following that ordeal) where enough to teach me a lesson.

In case you’re wondering, I found this article, from the Seattle Post, which explains that in May, June, July and August, Oysters are spawning, which takes a lot of energy. “During reproduction, an oyster consumes the energy stored in its plump little body to aid in its heroic and taxing effort. The result is a tired, flaccid, mushy oyster with a milky appearance.”

The author writes that it’s really okay to eat oysters in the summer, and you’re not going to die from eating one. “It's that they're, er, busy and, as such, not at their prime for eating.”

Well, September is here, and friends, I found my “r”. So oysters it is. As if those slippery little suckers weren’t well enough alone, or with a little Tabasco (or vodka! Yum!) here’s a recipe I found on epicurious.com for Oysters Rockefeller, a dish so rich that it was named after one of the wealthiest men in the US, John D. Rockefeller.

Ingredients
3/4 cup firmly packed watercress sprigs (2 oz before discarding coarse stems), finely chopped
1 1/3 cups firmly packed baby spinach (1 1/3 oz), finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped scallion greens
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons minced celery
3 tablespoons coarse fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a day-old baguette)
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Pernod or other anise-flavored liquor
Pinch of cayenne
3 bacon slices
About 10 cups kosher salt for baking and serving (3 lb)
20 small oysters on the half shell, oysters picked over for shell fragments and shells scrubbed well

Directions
Toss together watercress, spinach, scallion greens, parsley, celery, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon bread crumbs in a bowl. Melt butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, then add watercress mixture and cook, stirring, until spinach is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in Pernod, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer mixture to a bowl and chill, covered, until cold, about 1 hour.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.

While watercress mixture chills, cook bacon in cleaned skillet over moderate heat, turning, until crisp, then drain on paper towels and finely crumble.

Spread 5 cups kosher salt in a large shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) and nestle oysters (in shells) in it. Spoon watercress mixture evenly over oysters, then top with bacon and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons bread crumbs. Bake oysters until edges of oysters begin to curl and bread crumbs are golden, about 10 minutes.

Serve warm oysters in shells, nestled in kosher salt (about 5 cups), on a platter.

MFK Fisher

“Central heating, French rubber goods and cookbooks are three amazing proofs of man's ingenuity in transforming necessity into art, and, of these, cookbooks are perhaps most lastingly delightful.”

-M.F.K. Fisher

Fisher, who passed away in 1992, wrote more than 20 books and published two volumes of journals. Her books dealt with the prepartion, history and philosophy of food. Here's one of the recipes from her book, How to Cook a Wolf:

FRITTATA OF ZUCCHINI

In her words: “This frittata is a good dish. It can be made with almost anything: string beans, peas, spinach, artichokes. Cheese can be sprinkled over it. [As an older and easily wiser frittata cook I almost always, these richer days, add a scant cup of good dry Parmesan cheese to the eggs when I mix them. Often I add rich cream, too. How easy it is to stray from austerity!] Different kinds of herbs like sweet basil, summer savory, on and on, can change its whole character. And with a glass of wine and honest-to-God bread it is a meal. At the end of it you know that Fate cannot harm you, for you have dined.

Ingredients
3 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion or 3 green onions

1 clove garlic

5 small zucchini

1 large fresh tomato (or 1 cup solid-packed canned tomatoes)

1 tsp herbs, including parsley, sweet marjoram, or thyme

9 eggs

Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat oil in skillet and cook minced onion and garlic slowly in it 10 minutes. Add zucchini cut into thin slices. Add peeled and cut-up tomato, seasoning, and herbs. Cover, and cook until vegetable is tender. Take from stove and cool.

Beat eggs lightly, season, and mix with cooled vegetables. Pour back into skillet, cover tightly and cook over a slow fire until the edges of the frittata pull away from the pan. If the middle puffs up, prick it with a long sharp knife […or better yet, pull away from sides once or twice with large spoon, to let the soft middle flow outward].

When it is solid, brown lightly under a slow broiler flame in a preheated oven, cut in slices like a pie, and serve at once.”

Good Read

“In Europe, we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.”

-Ernest Hemingway