Oysters Bienville
Claude Aubert’s version of this New Orleans classic is definitive. Plump oysters are baked on the half shell, covered with herbed Bienville Sauce spiked with Tabasco and Angostura bitters. The recipe begins, as do many in New Orleans, with the making of a roux. This basic flour-butter paste can be slowly cooked just enough to remove the raw flour taste, as it is in this recipe, or through ever-darkening stages of blonde and peanut butter all the way to dark brown. Different New Orleans dishes call for different colors of roux.
Ingredients
- Light Roux
- Unsalted Butter - 1 cup
- Flour - 1-1/2 cups
- Bienville Sauce
- Unsalted Butter - 1/4 cup
- Onion - 1/2 cup, minced
- Celery - 1 cup, minced
- Mushrooms - 2 cups, chopped
- Garlic Cloves - 2, minced
- Raw Shrimp - 2 cups, small, peeled
- Thyme - 1 teaspoon, chopped
- Bay Leaf - 1
- Parsley - 1 teaspoon, minced
- Angostura Bitters - few drops
- Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce - few drops
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Dry white wine - 1/4 cup
- Lemon Juice - 1 tablespoon
- Heavy (whipping) cream - 1 cup
- Bread Crumbs - 1-1/2 cups
- Raw Oysters - 2 dozen, on the half shell
- Pie pans filled with rock salt - 4
- Mornay or Hollandaise sauce (optional) - 1-1/2 cups
Instructions
To prepare the roux: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium head. Stir in the flour and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until thickened but not colored. Set aside off the heat. The roux is used as a thickener for the sauce.
To prepare the sauce: Melt the butter and saute the onion, green onion, celery, and mushrooms until the onion is transparent but not browned. Add the garlic and shrimp. Simmer 10 minutes, then add the seasonings, white wine, lemon juice, and cream. Add the roux a bit at a time until the sauce becomes very thick. Stir in the bread crumbs
To assemble and serve: Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place six oysters on the half shell on each of the pans filled with rock salt, nestling the shells into the salt so that they are stable. Spoon Bienville Sauce over each oyster, filling the shell. If desired, glaze with a little Mornay or Hollandaise sauce. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the oysters heat through and the sauce starts to bubble and brown. Place the pie pans on serving plates to bring to the table.
