baked oysters with tomato

Breadcrumbs mixed with Parmigiano Reggiano. As always, use real Parmigiano from Parma. If you're inclined to use the imitation stuff in the green cylinder then just stop reading right now. You would be considered unteachable and I cannot help you.

If I had spinach I would have used it. Alas, for I am forlornly spinachless. I thought diced Roma tomatoes would be pretty good, but they're not. My bad. My next batch will have spinach/cream/garlic. This just doesn't cut it. Nice try, but no cigar.

* I used lemon juice directly on the oysters and lemon zest mixed with the breadcrumbs.

* Dry Italian seasoning mixed with the topping.

* A few drops Worcestershire directly on each oyster following a few drops of lemon.

* Diced tomato plus diced onion following the drops

* Dry topping on top of tomato/onion.

* Insufficiently salty. I thought the Parmigiano would be enough salt but it wasn't.

* It needed something so at the table I added drops of Sriracha (Asian version of Tabasco) but even that didn't help much.

* I didn't have enough rock salt to steady the oysters. Thought I had a whole box but it was over half empty.

* Baked at 350℉ / 175℃ for 20 minutes. They were barely cooked. I would say, perfectly cooked.

What I learned: I'm a terrible oyster shucker. Those little bastards are hard to open. I didn't come out of it completely unscathed either. Had to bash one open with a hammer. Used a knife and a heavy flat-head screwdriver for leverage, then cut the abductor muscle. I think I lost a good deal of the oyster liquor by my clumsy fumbling and by the need to remove shell fragments chipped by my inexpert oyster opening. This is not a task for the faint-hearted or for easy-bleeders for that matter.

I gotta up my game.

Mind, I'm not complaining here, just describing. I did devour this whole pile, which I'm certain qualifies me as a proper pig.

shirred eggs

Sirred = baked.  

Yesterday somebody said, "My grandma used to make us shirred eggs." That caused me to look up the word shirred. Looked at pictures. Learned that apparently anything at all can go under the eggs. I'd prefer spinach and some kind of ham but I don't have any spinach. I do have Walla Walla onion and I'm long on sweet peppers, so I used that. Caramelized half an onion with mirepoix including garlic. Elaborated a veloute sauce from home-made broth and threw in frozen chicken bits.

But Bo, how did you manage to avoid the yolk from becoming cooked firm, a problem many people note on the photos you essayed in researching the word shirred? Easy. I separated them, and watched them like a hawk in the convection oven -- a hawk intent on perfect eggs. Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I took a fine set of photos of the final dish, all set up real purdy and well lit. Then, when I'm done and began eating my shirred eggs, my camera goes, "Memory card needs to be formatted." The pictures gone. Bastard! Eww, that makes me so mad I could pull out somebody else's hair.

So I blithly persisted and took a photo of the shirred eggs in progress of being consumed, which has the advantage of showing off the inside of the egg and the chicken and vegetable stew underneath, although it looks something of a mess. Hey! Old Dutch masters painted still life pictures like this. Well, not exactly like this, but they painted still life pictures of meals abandoned in progress. <--- 100% of historical fact. Sourdough from yesterday, oh my God that stuff is good, with olive oil and parmigiano cheese.