Recipe for "Clambaked Oysters"

My next novel, Summer Shift, is about a woman who owns a fictional Cape Cod restaurant called The Clambake. I thought it might be nice to share some recipes at the back of the book, and so I enlisted local restaurant owners and longtime friends Lisa and Scott Moss, proprietors of the Saltwater Grille in Orleans, to help me out.

One of my favorite things at the Saltwater Grille is their Oysters Rockefeller. Lisa and Scott were kind enough to share their popular recipe with me. (I had to tweak it a little to reduce the serving quantity.) I’ve made this a bunch of times now and it’s a real crowd pleaser.

4 strips of bacon, cooked crisp
half of a 9-ounce bag fresh baby spinach
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 Pernod liqueur
1 cup half and half
salt and pepper
2 to 3 Tbs. cornstarch
cold water
1 dozen fresh oysters, shucked
grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook bacon, drain and set aside. Roughly chop the spinach. In a large saucepan, sauté the garlic in olive oil. Add the spinach and Pernod. Cook until spinach is wilted. Add the half and half, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add salt and pepper to taste. In a bowl, combine the cornstarch with enough cold water to moisten. Stir into the spinach mixture. Place the shucked oysters on a baking sheet. Spoon 1 Tbs. of the spinach mixture onto each oyster. Top each with a generous amount of Parmesan, and 1/3 strip of the cooked bacon. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Broil for a few minutes more until cheese turns golden.

Serves 1. (Kidding.) More like 3-4.