Plump buttery oysters in a creamy broth.

Ingredients
16 oz oysters shucked with liquor retained
4 cup fat free half & half
4 tablespoons margarine
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste
old bay, moroccan rub, or whatever spice you like to kick it up a notch!

Directions

• In a medium to large pot, cook oysters in their liquor until they look plump and firm and the edges start to curl a bit.
• Turn heat to low. Add half & half, margarine, salt and pepper.
• Turn heat back up just a little, bring to just shy of a simmer, and heat the stew through. Do not boil. Stir occasionally.
• Best served immediately but will keep for a day or two in the fridge in a sealed container.

Sure, you can shuck your own fresh oysters. I’m way too lazy to do that, so I found a pint of fresh shucked oysters… liquor and all. Liquor is the liquid inside an oyster’s shell and is a key component of the stew’s flavor.

A pint of fresh shucked oysters.

The oysters just poured into the pan.

Simmer the oysters right in their broth.  At first, it is hard to imagine that these will become plump and juicy… but they do, and you will know it when you see it.  They’ll appear a bit more sturdy, and the edges will start to curl up just a bit.

Plump and yummy!

Once they’re firmed up a bit, turn down the heat and add in the rest of your ingredients.  Kick the stove back up a bit and heat the stew until it is warmed through and uniform.  You shouldn’t boil it, but I did bring it almost to a simmer.

Creamy and warm winter treat!

Add whatever spices you like.  Traditionally, Old Bay is the way to go.  I had a Pampered Chef moroccan spice blend I wanted to try, so in it went.  Wonderfully different!  At the point, the stew is really open to interpretation.  Add herbs and spices… serve it with oyster crackers… make it special!  We had ours just like you see it here.   Plain and simple!

About 1/2  cup makes a serving, and this recipe yielded approximately 5 cups.  To make a more traditional batch, use milk or cream where I used fat free half & half.  Real butter would replace the margarine.

I made this yesterday.  Just took a taste of it cold from the fridge, and it kept just fine.  Can’t wait to heat up some more for lunch tomorrow!

Hello little Wonderland Oysters! Into the pot with you!

My Sweet Prince holds his lunch up for us to see.

Wonder how this would do in a slow cooker?  I’ll have to try it!

Find this recipe in my SparkRecipes recipe box.

A lovely alternative to traditional fried fish cakes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Eggbeaters, Southwestern Style
1/2 cup flour
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 small bunch scallions, finely chopped
1/2 lb small shrimp, shelled and chopped
1/2 tsp lite salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions

• In a medium to large sized bowl, mix flour and eggs. Then, add water and stir until smooth.
• Add shrimp, cilantro, and scallions to the bowl. Then add paprika, pepper, and salt.
• Let mixture stand for 30 minutes.
• Heat the flat non-stick plates of a counter griddle to medium-high heat. When ready, drop the mixture onto the griddle in 2 tablespoon units. (Each cake should be made from 2 tbsp worth of the egg/shrimp mixture.) Flatten a little with the back of a spatula, if necessary.
• Let cook until underside is golden, then flip one time. Cook again until underside is golden. These need to be turned only once and should not stick.
• Serve with cocktail sauce, tartar sauce, ketchup or whatever you desire.
• These can be cooked in a regular pan with a minimal amount of non-stick spray.
• Recipe makes 12 – 14 cakes.

Easy to make!

Any egg substitute will work nicely.  The Southwestern style eggbeaters add a little kick.  If you use plain egg substitutes or an equivalent number of real eggs (2 large) then you might opt to add some of your own chopped peppers and/or onions to the mix when it comes time to add the scallions.

Just about any raw shrimp will work, though small ones are easiest to work with.  I usually buy a bag of frozen shrimp and thaw them out overnight or just run cool water over them in a colander as I shell them.  I then place them in a small food processor along with the cilantro.  You need only pulse them a few times to get them chopped down to a workable size.  Do not pulverize them to a paste.

I scrape the shrimp / cilantro mixture out of the processor and into the egg / flour / water mixture.  I then cut the scallions down a little and chop them the rest of the way also with a few pulses of the food processor.  After I’ve added the scallions to the egg mixture, I then add my seasonings.

You can chop the ingredients by hand if you like.  I just like to be a lazy arse now and then!

Be as creative as you like with these.  If you’d rather not have spicy, you can use savory herbs or Old Bay seasoning.  If you want them super spicy, you can add a couple shakes of Tabasco.  Lots of room for experimentation.  How long you cook them is also up to you.  I like to cook them until both sides are a crisp golden brown.  As long as the shrimp are cooked through, you can pull them off the griddle when they look good to you.  If you use real eggs, make sure those are cooked through as well.

A Spark reviewer made these with gluten free flour, so that’s also an option.  I typically stick with white since it amounts to relatively little per cake.

I usually flip open my Cuisinart Griddler and use the flat grill plates to cook these, no non-stick spray required. (I love my Griddler. It comes with flat griddle plates and grill plates which can be popped out and put in the dishwasher!) Tonight, due to a temporary lack of counter space, I used a little bit of non-stick spray in a saute pan.

My husband had a little bit of dipping sauce and a little bit of ketchup with his.  I am plenty happy having mine without sauce.

Poor chef! Those shrimp are not happy!

Find this recipe in my SparkRecipes recipe box.