The Great Santini Oyster Casserole
- 3/4 cup butter, divided*
- A good-sized onion (South Carolina-sized, not Texas-sized), chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 3/4 pounds of wild mushrooms, sliced (such as tree oyster, hedgehog, chanterelle, shiitake)
- 4 tablespoons of chopped chives
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (lose weight after Christmas)
- 32 fresh Beaufort County oysters
- Reserved oyster liquor to make a full cup of liquid
- 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano (from a real wheel of cheese from Parma)
- 1/3 cup of Sauvignon Blanc
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1/2 cups fine, dry breadcrumbs made from day-old good French or Italian loaf
- Preheat broiler to 500u0b0 F. In a big skillet, melt four tablespoons of the butter. Add onion and bell pepper, and cook until they get that soft, giving-up look, about 5 to 6 minutes on medium-high. Add mushrooms and chives, season with salt and pepper, and cook approximately 9 minutes until golden brown and most of liquid has cooked out.
- In a Dutch oven, melt remaining 1/2 cup butter. On low heat, whisk in flour, and cook for a minute. Pretend you were born in Louisiana when you do this. Then slowly, as in "Whoa, hoss", whisk in the cream and oyster liquor. Simmer, stirring often. Don't text. Don't e-mail. Keep stirring for 5 minutes until this stuff is smooth and thick. Take a deep breath. Notice what you're up to. You're going to like yourself a lot. Add two tablespoons of the cheese. Dump in all the wine, and season again with salt and pepper. Cook two minutes more, whisking constantly. Fold in oysters, and cook 3 more minutes. Fold in mushroom mixture.
- Pour into deep lightly buttered pan or a medium-size casserole dish (13-inch x 9-inch). Combine remaining cheese and melted butter with enough breadcrumbs to cover, and sprinkle over the casserole. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.
- Live easy and die hard.
- * When perusing my shoddy notes for The Great Santini Oyster Casserole, I included the first version that I made with butter, fabulous butter. Then I remembered I substituted four or five slabs of bacon, which I crumbled into the beautiful pond of ingredients and made a jazzed-up gravy that my father loved. I think bacon could make even toe cheese good, but that's just me.
butter, onion, red bell pepper, mushrooms, chives, salt, flour, heavy cream, beaufort, liquid, sauvignon, butter, italian loaf
Taken from www.myrecipes.com/recipe/great-santini-oyster-casserole (may not work)