Oysters Hawthorne.

Ahhh. Behold the oyster. 'tis a beautiful thing.

Luckily, a friend of ours happened to stop by as these were coming out of the oven. He asked if they were Oysters Rockefeller. I said, "No, I'd guess you'd call 'em Oysters Hawthorne."

Ingredients for the Oysters Hawthorne topping: ricotta cheese mozzarella cheese Parmesan cheese spinach pepper red onion prosciutto Panko bread crumbs butter

I used this much of the red onion and pepper.

Mince very fine.

I used 2 strips of prosciutto.

Mince the prosciutto.

Next, take a big pile of spinach ...

... and chop it.

Heat 2 TB of butter until almost brown. Be careful. You can go from brown to burn in a flash. Add in prosciutto and saute for a minute or so, medium low heat.

Move around the pieces.

Add in peppers ...

... onions ...

... spinach ...

... heavy cream (1/3 cup ?) ...

... tablespoon of butter ...

... and two big plops of ricotta which I had left from my Lasagna Roll Ups. I always try to utilize what I need to use from the fridge, particularly something I bought special for a dish, in this case ricotta cheese. If you had cream cheese or a brie, you could sub with those. I taste-tested and added no seasonings. Ricotta is quite bland, but the prosciutto was plenty salty enough to season everything on its own.

I added in a good drink of sherry.

Some freshly grated nutmeg.

Two more smaller plops of ricotta and another pat of butter. Let cook, way low.

I grated some mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses with which to top the topping.

Rosie shucked the last oysters out of our fourth bushel this season. The Hawthornes love their oysters.

Top each oyster with just a small bit of topping. You don't want to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the oyster.

Top with cheese. Remember not to over-do.

I added a little pearl of Jalapeno Hot sauce.

I made a mixture of Panko bread crumbs and Club Crackers for added richness.

Sprinkle crumb mixture over oysters.

Close up of my little prettie.

These went under my broiler, set to 300 degrees, for about 5-6 minutes until heated through.

While my oysters were under the broiler,

I turned to another task at hand.What to do with the unused mixture?

I'm going with a dip here.

Place spinach mixture in a small ramekin and top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

Top with crumb mixture.

Dot with butter.

Give it a quick trip under the broiler.

Happiness on a Ritz.

Pretty good impromptu appetizer. Back to my little pretties:

These are lovely.

So pretty!

These are some of the best oysters I've had. I could taste the ocean.

I had the perfect balance between the sweet oyster and its toppings.

The Hawthornes are on a mission to find a fifth bushel. We're uncomfortable with no oysters in our fridge during the season.