Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (toptional, but adds another layer of flavor)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 leeks, white part only, cleaned, and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine (Fred uses vermouth)
- 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- 3 pints oysters, shucked, with liquor
- 20 light green, flat-leaf spinach leaves, cleaned, dried, and cut into chiffonade
Preparation
No more than four hours before serving, add the heavy cream to a 3-quart saucepan. Bring the cream to a slight simmer over medium heat. Cook until the cream has reduced by half. DO NOT let the cream come to a full boil, and use a ladle in the cream as a safety device to stir the cream if it gets to hot and begins to foam. The reduction process will take 30-45 minutes. Strain the cream into a warm Thermos or double boiler and hold until ready to serve.
As the cream reduces, blanch the leeks in boiling water for 30 seconds, strain and put in an ice bath. If you are doing this while the cream is reducing, then stir the cream. After a minute or two, drain the leeks, and refrigerate until needed.
Heat the butter and wine in a large non-stick saute pan. When a full boil has been reached, add the mushroom slices and saute for two minutes. If doing this ahead, remove the mushrooms and any liquid. Reserve.
When it’s showtime, re-warm the mushrooms in that large saute pan. Add the leeks, and the oysters. Cook over moderate heat until the oysters are just beginning to curl, usually about 4-6 minutes. Stir in the reduced cream, just barely re-warm, no more than two minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, with additional salt and pepper. Serve in warmed, shallow soup bowls. Equally divide the chiffonade of spinach over the servings. Immediately serve.
Yields 6 as a main course or 10-12 as a first course
About this recipe
Fred Thompson is the publisher of Edible Piedmont, a food photographer and consultant, as well as the author of 14 cookbooks including Southern Sides, Grillmaster, Barbecue Nation, and The Big Book of Fish and Shellfish. Next fall he will introduce Bacon, a new edition in the Savor the South series of cookbooks.
“This recipe has been part of the holidays for 20 years at my house. If I didn’t make it I’d be tarred and feathered. I even had the guts to prepare this for chef Ben Barker once. This recipe says Christmas Eve to me, and to those that celebrate with me. It started as an effort to give some joy to my oyster-loving father-in-law, to watch the expression on his face as he savored every bite. Now that he’s passed, it has become a memory, an honoring of sorts, and a way to keep him with us during the holidays. But don’t stop with this dish at Christmas—it’s great throughout the chilly months of oyster season.”
