Oysters in Cream

Saturday night we had what I would call an unexpected dinner party. Bob and I got back from Italy on Monday, just in time for all the Boston Marathon news. I invited my brother, George, to come over on Saturday night and look at our pictures. I was imagining a kickback evening with basic meat and vegetables dinner and the pix. Bob invited three other friends of ours, Tim, Nancy and Kathleen. Lovely people, but definitely upped the ante.
Since I am going back across the Atlantic in mid-May, I figured if the blog's momentum was to be kept going, I had better knuckle down. In deference to Bob's shellfish allergy, I chose a seafood appetizer, oysters in cream, so Bob could eat pate and the rest of the meal.
Oysters in cream is really good. Now, anything in cream is really good. Old shoes in cream, mudpies in cream, yum yum. And oysters are good. But oysters in cream, delicious, easy and relatively, for a seafood dish, inexpensive. The author expects us to open the oysters and cook them on their shells. Much easier to get a jar of oysters, and cook them in a little ramekin, which looks like a souffle dish for Peter Rabbit. Put three oysters in each ramekin. A 16 ounce jar provided enough oysters for five people.
The result was salty, creamy, and Parmesan cheesy and took all of ten minutes to prepare.

Oysters in Cream

24 oysters
Rock salt (You don't need the rock salt if you use the ramekins.)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup melted butter

1. Open the oysters (See instructions about jars.) and remove from shell. Wash twenty-four half shells and place an oyster in each. Set in a shallow baking pan filled with rock salt.
2. Pour two teaspoons cream over each oyster. Sprinkle each with two teaspoons cheese and one teaspoon melted butter. Broil under a preheated broiler just until the oyster edges curl and the cheese is lightly browned. Makes six servings.