Oysters Rockefeller Pizza
A potluck with some Spring ephemerals
Our COVID people-pod of nine stalwarts planned to meet on the mountaintop by the big stones, our go-to outdoor meeting spot. However, the wind was whipping on Sunday evening, so we made a hasty decision to gather at our house. This worked out well, as everyone could view our resident Jack-in-the-Pulpit that had popped up under our shrub at the edge of the lawn. He is a sight to behold.
(And he has some cousins near our front door—purple ones. It’s a Jack-in-the-Pulpit village!)
There was one friend who expressed Jack envy. Nina takes great pains to populate her yard on the edge of the woods near Shingletown Gap exclusively with native plants. We’ll have to give her some of the babies springing up.
Our reunion, after years spent out West (for us) and South (for Jeanne), was worthy of a special dish, and I had one in mind. I still had oysters from Daly’s in Mechanicsville, MD, well off the beaten path but worth tracking down. The store is tucked away in a residential neighborhood overlooking the Patuxent River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The Eastern oyster is very different from the Western ones we found at the Whole Foods in Jackson; the Easterns are smaller and sweeter. It was time to use them.
I was hungry for Oysters Rockefeller and thought about how to make that for a crowd, using oysters already out of the shell. Google Oyster Rockefeller pizza and a surprising number of recipes and photos pop up. I did some research and decided to create a new version using my tried-and-true pizza crust recipe from my cooking camp days.
One of the best things about making a pizza is using whatever you have on hand as a topping. In addition to oysters, I had spinach, bacon, shallots, but just four morels, the very last of John’s spring harvest. I also had some intriguing spruce tips from a visit to a mushroom farm and milkweed shoots that I picked up at the farmers market because I never tried eating them. In the end, I didn’t put the milkweed shoots on the pizza—there was already enough going on—but they were a tasty side dish with a mustard vinaigrette.
I used bread flour and a bit of whole wheat flour for the pizza dough, and it was nice and springy. Make the dough first, and when your components are assembled, it will be ready to press into the sheet pan. I made a Bechamel and enriched it with a little Gruyere, which helped to bind the toppings to the pizza. Additional Gruyere went on top of the sauce. Then the sauteed bacon, sauteed shallot, and spinach. It made a cozy bed for the well-drained oysters, which were then covered with a Gremolata-like topping with Panko crumbs that helped protect the oysters during baking. I also added the spruce tips before baking, adding more after the pizza came out for freshness and color. I scattered the small bits of sautéed morels on the top before dusting with Parmesan cheese and popping the tray into the oven on the lowest rack.
Many other fine dishes were brought to the potluck—delightfully classic Deviled Eggs, Guacamole and salsa, veggies with a White Bean Lemon Dip, Asparagus, Spanakopita, Pork Tenderloin sliders with Tait Farm Ginger Chutney, Roasted Cauliflower—though we lacked a dessert, which made us drink more wine.
It was a rousing good time with laughter ringing out into the yard where the solemn Jack-in-the-Pulpits kept watch. John climbed onto his own pulpit and we had a lively discussion of religious affiliation, the new Pope, our milkbottle souls, and limbo, which naturally led to a limbo demonstration. We were back with our people, the wild ones, who like eating wild foods and getting wild. Don’t judge us, Jack!
This is a worthy endeavor when you are ready to tackle a project and have the ingredients on hand.
Oysters Rockefeller Pizza
Makes one 18 x 13 inch pan (a commercial half sheet pan)=12 servings, 2 slices each
Dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon yeast (or one packet)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil (plus additional oil for the sheet pan)
2 ½ cups bread flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
Put the warm water and honey in a bowl and sprinkle on the yeast. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Stir. Add salt and one tablespoon of olive oil and beat well. (I used a stand mixer with a dough hook, but you can also do it by hand.) Add the bread flour gradually, and then add the whole wheat flour. If it is too stiff, drizzle in a little warm water. Knead until smooth and place in a tightly covered container in a warm spot while you prepare the other components.
Bechamel Sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons AP flour
2 cups milk, at room temperature or slightly warm
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper (white pepper if you have it but black is fine too)
2 ounces Gruyere, grated
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and add the flour. Whisk until smooth and bubbly. Allow the flour to cook for about a minute then slowly add the milk, whisking continually. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the sauce is thick and smooth. Add the grated Gruyère and gently stir to melt it. Set aside.
Toppings:
4 slices of thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 large shallot, minced
5 ounces spinach, washed and dried
6 ounces Gruyere, grated
One pint of oysters, drained and spread on a double thickness of paper towels to dry
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Optional: 4 morels, or other mushrooms, as available, sauteed lightly in a little butter
Sauté the chopped bacon until crispy, then remove the cooked bits with a slotted spoon. In the bacon fat, sauté the minced shallot until translucent, then add the spinach leaves. Stir and toss the spinach in the pan until it is wilted, then set it aside.
Panko Gremolata:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup unseasoned panko crumbs
½ cup finely chopped parsley
Optional: spruce tip needles or chives
Melt the butter in a small sauté pan. Add the minced garlic and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the panko crumbs and toss until the panko is coated with the garlic butter. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, and mix to combine. Set aside.
Assembly:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread two tablespoons of olive oil on a half-sheet pan. With your oily hand, punch down and remove the dough from the container, stretching it to fit on the pan. Keep stretching until the dough completely fills the sheet pan, and then press up the edge to make a rim all around.
Spread the cheesy Bechamel over the surface with a spatula. Add the grated Gruyere and spread it to the edges of the dough. If the spinach/shallot mixture is still wet after cooking, squeeze it dry and place it on top of the Gruyère. Scatter the bacon bits on top of the spinach. Nestle the oysters evenly all over the surface of the pizza. Sprinkle the Panko-Gremolata on top of the oysters and dust with the dry grated Parmesan. Stud the top with morel or mushroom bits if you have them.
Put the tray on the bottom rack in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until the underside of the crust is golden brown. If you have some spruce tips or chives to add, sprinkle them on when the pizza comes out of the oven. Allow to rest for a few minutes, then slice and serve with a cold glass of Picpoul de Pinet or beverage of your choice.
Note: I didn’t think of this when I made the dish, but next time, I will add some Pernod to the Béchamel to add a hint of anise flavor. But it was truly fine without!
