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Baked Oysters with Fresh Thyme and Sweet Garlic Butter

Posted by Michele Humes, February 25, 2009 at 12:00 PM

The following recipe is from the February 25th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!

This dish of baked oysters with fresh thyme and sweet garlic butter is probably the simplest dish in the entire Le Bernardin repertoire. Master cook though he is, executive chef Eric Ripert knows that certain ingredients need only the barest—if any—preparation. Good oysters are one of them.

Ripert loves the Kumamoto oysters from Washington state, “which have a firm texture and creamy flavor with a mildly fruity finish.” If you can’t find Kumamotos, don’t despair. Any plump, medium-sized oyster will work, as long as you don’t overcook them, causing them to dry out and lose their flavor. Clams work beautifully in this dish, too.

Baked Oysters with Fresh Thyme and Sweet Garlic Butter

- serves 4 -

Adapted from On the Line by Eric Ripert and Christine Muhlke.

Ingredients

3 cups kosher salt
28 Kumamoto oysters, shucked
1/2 cup garlic butter (recipe follows), softened
12 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 lemon

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Mix 1 cup of the kosher salt with just enough water to make it the consistency of wet sand. Place 7 small mounds of the salt on each of four serving plates to hold the baked oysters. Set aside.

3. Spread the remaining 2 cups salt on a baking sheet. Place about a teaspoon of the garlic butter on each oyster and nestle the oysters in the salt. Scatter the thyme over the oysters.

4. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the butter is bubbling and lightly browned.

5. To serve, place each oyster on a mound of salt on the serving plates. Drizzle with lemon juice, and serve immediately.

Garlic Butter

- makes about 1/2 pound -

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot

Procedure

1. Wrap the parsley in a square of cheesecloth (or paper towel) and squeeze to remove excess moisture.

2. Whip the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. (This can also be done by hand in a large mixing bowl.) Add the garlic, shallot, and parsley and mix well.

3. Transfer the butter to a plastic container and store, tightly sealed, for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 1 month in the freezer.

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Tags: oysters, recipe newsletter, seafood