Oyster Dressing
If I had to name one dish that is Skip's signature holiday dish, this is definitely the one. Oyster dressing is not only popular with our family, but also on the holiday tables along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. This dressing is well seasoned and infused with the briny flavor of oysters by adding whole oysters, puréed oysters and oyster liquor. The liquid that is naturally inside the oyster’s shell is the oyster liquor. Shucked oysters are packaged in this flavorful liquid. The texture of this dressing is unlike one made with large cubed bread, or a dressing made with store bought Italian style bread crumbs. Our recipe calls for whole loaves of Reising’s bread made by the Leidenheimer family. In New Orleans, the Leidenheimer family has been making French bread, with its crispy crust and light interior, for over a century. During the holiday season, bags filled with chopped bits of this airy bread are sold in local grocery stores, and often added to oyster dressing. You, too, can create these home-style breadcrumbs to get the perfect texture for this dressing, I first crisp the whole loaves, and then thinly slice the crisped loaves, followed by a coarse chop. This coarse crumb will add a firm, but pudding like texture to this iconic New Orleans dish. If you aren’t able to get this brand of bread use your local brand of French style bread. Please don’t use finely ground store-bought Italian style bread crumbs, because it won’t yield the same results. One of my favorite tips is to make the bread crumbs in advance, store in re-sealable freezer bags, and freeze up to 2 months. Simply remove from the freezer and add when you prepare the dressing. Ok, so my absolute favorite tip is that you can make this dressing, freeze it and simply thaw and reheat. The flavors beautifully blend after being frozen. Simply thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Spread in a baking dish, add a few splashes of broth, pats of butter on top and bake at 350° until bubbly and brown on top.
Oyster Dressing
Servings: 10-12
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Home-style Breadcrumbs
10 oz. loaf Reising’s or Leidenheimer’s New Orleans French bread (about 2 ½ feet long )
Dressing
64 oz. container of shucked oysters (containers totaling 64 oz. should yield about 4 cups oysters and reserve your oyster liquor)
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided (plus extra for coating baking dish)
1 ½ cup of celery, chopped
1/3 cup of red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup of yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup of green bell pepper, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 ½ cups green onions, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Italian herbs
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoons black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Home-style Breadcrumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 300° and adjust your rack in the center of your oven. Cut the loaf of bread into 4 equal loaves. Set on a baking sheet and bake until dried out and crispy in the center, 30-45 minutes. The loaf should become crispy throughout and brown very little.
2. Slice the bread into thin slices about ¼-inch thick. Coarsely chop the slices or use your hands to crush the slices into coarse pebble-size pieces, being careful not to over chop into a fine crumb. You should have about 10 cups of coarse bread crumbs. Do not substitute store bought Italian style breadcrumbs.
Dressing
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9"x13" heatproof glass baking dish and set aside.
2. Set a strainer over a large bowl. Pour the oysters into the strainer and reserved 1 cup of the oyster liquor. Run your fingers through the drained oysters to remove any pieces of oyster shell.
3. Add half of the drained oysters into a blender and pulse until pureed. Refrigerate the blended oysters and the remaining whole oysters until ready to add to the dressing.
4. In a large Dutch oven on medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the celery, bell peppers and bay leaves and sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and add the green onions, parsley, garlic, Italian herbs, poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and stir until combined.
6. Add 1 cup of the oyster liquor, the blended oysters and the whole oysters into the Dutch oven with the sautéed seasonings. Stir until well combined
7. Turn on the heat to medium high and bring to a gentle boil. Boil, stirring frequently, until the oysters release more liquid and become plump with curled edges, about 3 minutes.
8. Reduce the heat to low and add 8 cups of the breadcrumbs. Stir well and allow about a minute for the bread to soak up the seasoned liquid. The dressing should be firm as the oysters will release more liquid while baking. If the dressing is too loose or runny add a ½ cup of breadcrumbs at a time until firm. Reserve any remaining breadcrumbs for another use.
9. Spoon the dressing into the buttered dish. Top with the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, thinly sliced. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges of the dish are bubbling and the top is beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Stir well, folding any browned bits throughout and bake again until bubbling, 15-20 minutes. Place the dish under the broiler until browned on top, 1-2 minutes. Serve warm.
Do Ahead: Home-style breadcrumbs can be baked, chopped and frozen in re-sealable freezer bags up to 2 months.
The baked and completely cooled dressing can be stored in re-sealable freezer bags in the freezer up to 1 month. Simply thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Spread in a baking dish, add a few splashes of broth, pats of butter on top and bake at 350° until bubbly and brown on top.
