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
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to broil.
- In a food processor, combine the garlic, shallot, spinach, watercress, and green onions. Pulse until chopped.
- Add the butter, bread crumbs, Pernod, fennel seeds, and hot pepper sauce and pulse again to combine.
- Sprinkle the rock salt in a ¼-inch-thick layer in a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.
- Place the oysters in the half shells on top of the salt.
- Top each oyster with 1 tablespoon of the spinach mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan.
- 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.
