Oysters Rockefeller

This is the recipe for the oysters we served at Harvest. Since there have been so many requests for the recipe I'm posting it here. This is as close to the taste of the original as I've ever had. The secret is the Pernod. Good luck finding that in Indy.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 shallots, minced
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 Tablespoons Pernod
Kosher salt, to taste

Black Pepper, to taste
Tabasco red pepper sauce, a dash
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
2 dozen oysters, on the half shell
Rock salt
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450º F. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.

Place the bread crumbs in a mixing bowl and add half the garlic-infused butter and set aside. To the remaining butter in the pan, add the shallots and spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, about three minutes. Deglaze the pan with Pernod and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a dash of Tabasco sauce and allow the mixture to cook down for a few minutes.

To the bread crumbs, add the olive oil, Parmesan and parsley. Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the spinach mixture on each oyster, followed by a spoonful of the bread crumb mixture.

Sprinkle a baking pan with rock salt and arrange the oysters in the salt to steady them. Bake in a preheated 450º F oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden.

Serve with lemon wedges and Tabasco sauce.