Baked oysters are a classic shell fish dish. Usually the dish features the oysters on the half shell with some kind of sauce or stuffing on them. Feel free to use the stuffing recipe here or find your own.
Turn the broiler on to preheat oven.
Technically speaking, the oysters will be broiled rather than baked. So getting the oven to a high temperature is important.
Scrub the oysters under running water. The oysters need to be cleaned of barnacles and debris before you shuck them because you will be using the shells as part of the dish. Put them all in a bowl or other container once they are scrubbed clean, cover them, and put them in the refrigerator.
Mix an oyster stuffing in a bowl. The recipe for this stuffing is as follows: 6 ounces cream cheese 3 tablespoons finely minced scallions, plus extra for garnish, 1 tablespoon finely minced Italian (flat-leaf) parsley 1 tablespoon finely grated Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, strained Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Mix these up in a bowl or use a blender.
Fill a jelly roll sheet pan or baking dish 1 inch deep with rock salt, deep enough for oysters to sit upright. You will situate the half shell oysters in this rock salt.
Shuck the oysters. This involved prying open the shell and carefully scooping out the oyster meat. What will be left is the empty shell with the adductor muscle – a muscle attached to the shell itself. Place the oysters in a colander or strainer over a bowl when you shuck them to catch any oyster liquor that drains off of them. Oyster liquor is the liquid in the shell. Save this liquor because you will use it in a few minutes.
Next you will clean and prepare the bottom shells (the shell with the adductor muscle attached) so that you can put the oysters on them. You want to scrub these shells under running water, or rinse after scrubbing, and make sure to remove the adductor muscle. Dry them with a towel afterwards. Once they are clean and dry, place them (concave side up of course) in the baking or casserole dish that has the rock salt in it. Again, the rock salt will hold them steady.
Now place an oyster in each shell and pour 1 teaspoonful of oyster liquor over it. Then put one or two teaspoonfuls of the cream cheese stuffing mixture on each oyster. It should totally cover the oyster meat
Bake the oysters under the broiler for 5 minutes. The cheese mixture should begin to bubble a little and get lightly browned.
Take the oysters out and serve them on a plate also covered with rock salt to hold them upright.
You can add a garnish with the scallions, leafy greens, parsley, or any other garnish of your choice. Enjoy!
