Oysters Rockefeller

Yield: Serves 8 | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes

Add just the right combination of spices to fresh oysters, and you’ve got a five-star dish that epitomizes the height of luxury. Plus, the Pernod, an anise-flavored liqueur, can be used again to make other specialty drinks. It doesn’t get much better than that!

INGREDIENTS

1 garlic clove

1 small shallot

2 cups fresh spinach

1 bunch fresh watercress, stems trimmed

½ cup sliced green onions

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup dried bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons Pernod

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1 pound rock salt (use kosher salt if you can’t find rock salt)

24 fresh oysters, shucked, shells reserved

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to broil.
  2. In a food processor, combine the garlic, shallot, spinach, watercress, and green onions. Pulse until chopped.
  3. Add the butter, bread crumbs, Pernod, fennel seeds, and hot pepper sauce and pulse again to combine.
  4. Sprinkle the rock salt in a ¼-inch-thick layer in a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.
  5. Place the oysters in the half shells on top of the salt.
  6. Top each oyster with 1 tablespoon of the spinach mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan.
  7. Place the baking dish on the middle rack of the oven and broil for 5 minutes, until the spinach mixture is bubbling and golden. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.