Oysters Hawthorne.

The Hawthornes are working on our second bushel of oysters. We've grilled them, we've made chowder, we've made cauliflower and oyster soup, we've had them raw.

Today I'm making Oysters Hawthorne, my ersatz version of Oysters Rockefeller. And I make it differently every time and every time it's very good.

Half a bag of spinach, steamed and chopped celery stalk, finely chopped some red onion, finely chopped some white onion, finely chopped scallion, parsley, fennel

I steamed the spinach.

Then squeezed the excess water out.

Chopchop spinach.

Melt butter over medium high heat. and add in chopped onions and celery. Cook until onions are translucent.

Add in spinach.

I added a tablespoon or two of heavy cream - just enough to bind the spinach, onions, and celery.

Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Freshly ground nutmeg to taste.

3 dozen oysters, shucked

I topped each oyster with the spinach mixture.

Half the oysters I topped with the fennel.

The other half I topped with parsley and scallion.

I happened to have some extra Parmesan Cream Sauce on hand: 1 TB butter 1 TB flour 1 cup heavy cream freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste splash of sherry 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour. Whisk and cook about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in cream. Heat until thickened. Season to taste. Add a splash of sherry. Remove from heat and add in Parmesan.

Ladle sauce over top of oysters.

I grated more Parmesan over top.

And gave it a final sprinkling of Panko.

Quick trip under the broiler.

Just long enough to brown the Panko.

The great thing about these oysters is that the oyster is still wonderfully plump. As in, not shriveled and dried out, like so many oysters are when broiled. Too many people don't know how to properly broil an oyster. Restaurants rarely get them right, so I don't even order anymore.

Basically, it's a raw oyster warmed through. Juicy. Briny. Tastes like ocean.