Recipe: Eastern Shore Oyster Stuffing

Oysters make appearances on menus across America every day, but it's usually Thanksgiving and Christmas that they show up as the star in Oyster Stuffing. No, it isn't cooked inside the turkey (you should be spatchcocking that anyway) so we guess it's technically dressing? Regardless, it's tasty, and sure to be a hit. You can shuck your own oysters or purchase pre-shucked pints (linked here - we usually offer them around the holidays... wink wink).  

Ingredients

• ½ lb bacon, cut into ½” thick slices
• ½ lb sausage
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 celery ribs, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
• 2 c. spinach (or kale), chopped
• 1 qt. chicken stock
• ½ c. white wine
• 2 loaves French bread, torn apart into small pieces
• 2 pints shucked oysters, drained (reserve liquid)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Heat a large, heavy gauge sauté pan over medium/low heat. Cook sausage until crisp, then set aside in large mixing bowl. In the same pan, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and put in the large mixing bowl with the sausage, leaving the drippings in the pan.
• Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to sauté pan. Cook covered over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.
• Add poultry seasoning, parsley, spinach/kale, chicken stock, and white wine. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes. Pour into large mixing bowl with bacon and sausage.
• Add bread pieces to the mixing bowl and stir thoroughly until well mixed. Add chicken stock if needed (but don’t make it too mushy!). Add salt and pepper.
• Generously butter a 13x9” baking pan.
• Add oysters and liquid to the bottom of the pan.
• Place the stuffing over the oysters.
• Top with generous slivers of butter.
• Bake for 1 hour or until oyster liquor is bubbling

A few images for reference...

When we say generously buttered, we mean it!

By layering oysters on the bottom, they aren't lost within the stuffing: