Patti Constantin

Designs in Catering, Inc.
131 Nursery, Metairie, La 70005
835-5552

"Les Huitre dans Le Coeur de pain"

Oysters in a heart of bread, garnished with roasted red pepper puree

I am using heart shaped brioche enhanced with red pepper and smoked gouda. They brioche is made by Suzy Banck of Windfield Farms Bakery.

Ingredients:
1 pt oysters with holy water (oyster juice)
4 cloves f garlic finely chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1 stalk celery sliced or chopped
1 small fennel bulb chopped
1 leek chopped or sliced
1 tbs fresh parsley chopped
2 tbs green onions sliced really thin
1/2 tbs butter
4 tbs Neufchatel cheese
A couple of splashes of herbsaint or pernod
Salt, red and white pepper to taste

Drain oyster, reserving the juice, boil and strain juice and reserve for later use. Sauté garlic, onions, celery, fennel, and leek in butter, add herbsaint and then oyster juice. Let it come to a good boil and reduce until liquid is about an inch to an inch and a half in your sauté pan. Wisk in cream cheese, a tablespoon at a time. This is thicken sauce to a creamy consistency. Add oysters, parsley, green onions and salt and pepper to taste. Oysters should only cook until edges begin to curl.

Sautéed spinach goes nicely on the brioche before spooning the oysters on hearts.

Roasted red pepper puree:

Roast 2 to 3 red bell peppers by holding with tongs or other appropriate utensils in fire (or you can put on grill or in oven). The skin of the pepper in the oven will not get black but will get very wrinkly. In the fire or on the grill the skin will totally turn black. Put peppers in brown paper bag, close top of bag. Let sit about 10 minutes, peel and clean out seeds, then puree with a toe of garlic, juice of a lemon, 1/8th of a red onion, salt and cayenne to taste.

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Updated 12/09/2000
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