Oyster Cream Soup

I like oysters.  Ever since my first taste of "oyster cake", Chinese style, I've loved oysters.  I remember the occasional oyster misua (wheat noodle) soup that my mom made.  And I absolutely adored the super fresh oysters my (late) uncle treated me to at a famous beach... where oysters still in their shell (and freshly caught wild) were sold by the buckets.  I remember being mildly shocked that after purchasing a large bucket, a kettle-full of boiling water was poured over the oysters (apparently the buckets had holes at the bottom because the water flowed right out) and that was it!  We were given small, sharp, double-bladed knives (so we could open the shells) and a bowl of native vinegar dip and  we dug in... I was hooked since then!  But only the freshest, sweetest oysters would do for me!

Luckily for me, oysters are not only more common these days, they are available already shucked and swimming in precious oyster liquid.  So when I was in the "special" wet market shopping for my special dinner menu, it was easy to pick up a pack of shucked oysters!

My special dinner menu was largely continental-inspired cuisine, so my usual oyster dishes would not do - oyster cake or oyster noodles was definitely not compatible with pasta!  So off I went searching in my cookbook library.

I found the recipe in this cookbook (a favorite of mine, image courtesy of google images)

I found the original recipe a bit too rich for me (2 cups whipping cream!??!!)  So I just used 2 cups milk, 2 cups oyster liquid and 1/2 cup cream.  And to make the whole process even more simple, I just dumped in the oysters in the near simmering broth and let it stew a couple of minutes before putting the heat off (the oysters would still cook in the residual heat and it would not be over-done).

I like the soup, which was simple yet elegant... and very tasty!