Last night we had oyster chowder for dinner. Steve bought two pints of shucked oysters the other day which I thought was overkill, knowing just how many oysters are hiding in there, swimming around in their liquor, but we benefited nonetheless. How can you have too many oysters? Well, at one point the world did have too many beautiful oysters, but that's a different depressing story about how we ate them all and ruined their habitat. But we won't go there right now. Right now, we are celebrating this simple and warming soup.
I used this recipe from Epicurious as a guideline, but didn't really follow it. It's such a simple soup! I had nice home made bacon at the ready: swoon! And beautiful sturdy leeks. A bag of shrimp shells in the freezer made a quick broth to sub for clam juice, and a much better one if you ask me. And I used milk instead of cream, and omitted the flour. A completely different recipe!
Oysters are such a symbol of the new year. Here are some other recent posts on the beautiful bivalve:
Check out Michael's Oyster Stew
and check out Laura's post on oysters and the new year.
I want so much to like oysters. My husband loves - LOVES - them, so I've tried. Several times. I've faced the fact that they are just one of those things I don't care for. Your chowder is beautiful though and if we weren't in a landlocked area where fresh oysters aren't truly possible, I would absolutely make this for him.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder why humans love oysters so. They are such a mystery. But, in my opinion, a delicious one!
DeleteI am afraid of cooked oysters but given that I have a pound of shucked ones in the freezer now, I may just have to go here. Thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI really think you can't go wrong with pan-fried with a nice remoulade. I'm always surprised how well oysters go down cooked.
Deletewhat a lovely picture of your chowder. beautiful! thank you. and thank you for mentioning my blog. very nice of you...
ReplyDeletethank you! It was such a lovely dish, I had to share it.
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