Growing up, we always had oyster stew on Christmas Eve. It took me a long while to question why, as it was such a tradition along with hanging the stockings and putting the star on top of the tree. I’m Catholic and half-Irish, and many think the dish dates to the 1800s when Irish Catholics needed an inexpensive, simple, yet festive dish that did not contain meat to celebrate the day before Christmas. My great-grandmother, who came over from Ireland to Chicago, made oyster stew for my father's family, and it was passed down, like the recipes in our show this weekend, “Tasting the Past.” My mother’s family on the other hand, all-Italian, made homemade tortellini in broth for Christmas.
When I got married and then had kids, we often had oyster stew the night before Christmas. My young children ate it with bread on the side and honestly that stage of Christmastime is such a blur of activity that I think they liked it but don’t really remember. My husband is always up for a cooking challenge, so we eventually then started to make the Feast of the Seven Fishes, on Christmas Eve, which is considered an Italian American tradition. We expanded the stew to include clams, mussels and whitefish, then the rest of the “seven” on various years came from shrimp cocktail, calamari, salmon, or whatever fish we chose that holiday.
This year, in yet another variation on the tradition, with our college-aged daughters home for Christmas, who love (I guess they did learn to like them at a young age) oysters, we made oysters four ways: raw, grilled, fried, and the oyster stew. None of us needs another oyster in the next few days, but we had a great time cooking all together in our kitchen for hours, shucking oysters, laughing about what worked and didn’t work, and toasting to our family holiday.
Here's a simple recipe:
Oyster Stew
A traditional Irish Christmas Eve dish, this stew can be altered in many ways. Use onions or leeks instead of shallots, more cream than milk to make it thicker, or add fennel and saffron for deeper flavors. Serve with crusty sliced bread for dipping in the stew. We ordered fresh oysters from Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Mass. but have also used pints of oysters in liquid found in grocery stores.
* Sauté 3-4 finely chopped shallots and 4-5 stalks of celery in 1/4 cup butter.
* Heat 1 quart milk/cream, then stir in vegetables.
* Cook on low heat until simmering, not boiling.
* Stir in about a pint (12-24 oysters depending on size) along with liquid if in a container. Add clam juice if more liquid is needed.
* Cook until the oyster edges curl slightly.
*Add salt, pepper, and a bit of sherry to taste. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top.
Hoping your holidays were full of good food (and multiple fishes if you like), family and friends.
– Shannon