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Ingredients
- 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
Details
Servings 12
Adapted from myrecipes.com
Preparation
Step 1
1. Preheat broiler to 500° 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.
2. In a Dutch oven, melt remaining ½ 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.
3. 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.
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