Eric's Rockin' Oysters

We just got home from Panama City Beach, our last stop on the She-Smoke US tour (grin). We spent time with Eric's mom, made sandcastles, and watched for oil. That would be the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico you've heard about. It was spreading and headed our way. It didn't hit while we were there, but between the stormy weather, and the motorcycle rally held that weekend, it wasn't the quiet stretch of beach I've been to in the past.

Luckily we bought oysters before fishing was banned. Eric shucked oysters and, though he likes to slurp his down raw, he made his favorite cooked version for the oyster wimps like me.

He calls these his "Rockefeller Lite" version, a simpler preparation than the old school Oysters Rockefeller.

I just call them rockin'.

"I think we had them this way at Szmania's years ago," he said, crediting a wonderful German restaurant in Seattle.

Here is his recipe.

Ingredients
Fresh oysters, flat shell removed
Fresh spinach
High quality Parmesan
Panko bread crumbs
Onion
Salt and Pepper

Saute onion in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Add spinach and saute until cooked. Squeeze out excess liquid. Make balls and chop finely.

After shucking flat side of oysters, cut out oyster from the bottom shell, leaving it in. Place shells with oysters on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle about a teaspoon and a half of the spinach onion mixture on oyster.

Top with shaved Parmesan and bread crumbs.

Broil until cheese fully melts and bread crumbs brown.