From Roasting Oysters to Oyster Plates - we love our oysters!

 We finally got to kick back and roast our first batch of oysters last week...and a sneak look at my wife's Oyster Plate collection...

Recipe of the Month: Oyster Stew

Finally! We stopped by Houston's Meat Market on the way home and picked up a bushel of oysters - they were from Virginia - the York River. Coincidently, we had oysters at a party a couple of weeks before that and they had both Virginia oysters AND "local" oysters (they were actually from south Georgia). Those local oysters were clusters - 4-5-6 oysters in one lump, and were the best I've had in a while. BUT, you had to work for them. They're small and difficult to shuck. The Virginia oysters are singles and larger, easier to shuck, and you get more "bang for you buck", but not quite as tasty as the local oysters.  This bushel that we picked up from Houston's we roasted and shucked and ate them with hot sauce, butter, butter and horseradish. Note that I've got a habit of roughly counting the oysters as I wash and load them on the grill and the bushel ended up having approximately 12 dozen oysters. We shucked and ate all but 3 dozen, then shucked the rest to make oyster stew.

This recipe comes from www.shewearsmanyhats.com

Ingredients:

- 4 tablespoons butter

- 1 Large onion, finely diced

-  2 garlic cloves

- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper

- 1/4 teaspoon paprika

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

-  1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

- 6 cups whole milk or half and half

 - 1 teaspoon dried parsley

- 16 ounces fresh raw oysters, undrained

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Heat butter over medium heat in heavy bottom 3-quart saucepan. Add  diced onion and saute until tinder, about 5 minutes. Grate in garlic(or mince), continue to saute for another 1-2 minues, being watchful to not burn garlic. Add red pepper, paprika, salt, black pepper, stir to toast about 1 minute.

2. Drain oysters and reserve liquid (oyster liqueur)(we didn't have any of this as ours came right off the grill. BUT, we opened a can of crab meat and dumped it in, crab and liquid to add some thickness)

3) Reduce heat to low, add milk, parsley and oyster liqueur.

4) Cook over low heat until mixture is hot and beginning to steam, and bubbles just start to appear around the edge. Do NOT allow to come to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

5) Add oysters and continue to  cook over low heat until oysters begin to curl on edges.