Oysters, out of their shells and into savory pie
In Britain, not all savory pies are al ike. Some are wrapped in pastry while others are topped with mash,” the affffffffffffectionate nickname for mashed potatoes. There is cottage pie (mash-covered minced beef stew) and shepherd’s pie (the same thing, but with lamb). And there is fifish pie, the inspiration for the rich, satisfying oyster pie here.
For fifish pie, unless you are using leftover cooked fifish, you poach a mixture of fresh fifish chunks (and usually a bit of smoked haddock, too) brieflflflflflfly in milk, and then use it to make a lightly thickened white sauce.
The fifish and sauce commingle, get the mash treatment and head into a hot oven to bake until golden and bubbly.
Fish pie represents the homiest of home-cooked meals and is much adored, ever so humble as it is. There are also versions that add prawns or other shellfifish, but that is considered a little too posh in some circles.
While experimenting with versions of my all-oyster pie, I fifirst thought of baking oysters in cream with an herby bread-crumb topping.
I was consulting some older cookbooks from the South, in which shucked oysters were moistened with milk or cream (along with their precious liquor) and baked under a shower of crushed saltine crackers. That sounded pretty good.
But then I considered a Yankee oyster stew with bacon and onion, or an oyster chowder with leeks and potatoes.
In the end, it became an oyster pie with nearly all of those other inflfluences: fat oysters with crème fraîche, leeks, bacon and thyme, all nestled together under the mashed potato lid.
Concerning oysters, you can buy shucked oysters by the pint, or you can ask your fifishmonger to shuck the oysters for you or do it yourself ). The cost ends up being about the same.
This is a perfect use for larger oysters.
Pre-shucked oysters in a jar keep for a week while refrigerated, but freshly shucked is obviously that much fresher tasting. Figure three or four oysters per person, or more for larger appetites.
No disrespect to raw oys- ters on the half shell, which are wonderful in all sorts of settings, but for a cool- weather supper, make it oyster pie. This is a hearty, stickto-your-ribs kind of meal.