Recipe - Artichoke Oyster Soup

6 tablespoon Butter, melted
One half cup Shallots (chopped fine)
One fourth teaspoon Thyme
1 Bay leaf
One half teaspoon Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon Flour
14 ounce Chicken broth
(more or less won't hurt)
4 cup Oysters, drained; reserve
liquid (less, to taste)
14 ounce Artichoke hearts, cooked
2 teaspoon Salt
One fourth teaspoon Tabasco
One half cup Whipping cream
3 tablespoon Parsley (chopped, fresh)

In a 3quart casserole, melt butter and saute shallots. When shallots are
translucent, add thyme, bay leaf and cayenne pepper. Add flour and whisk
well. Add broth, oyster water, artichoke hearts, salt and tabasco. Bring
to a boil. Add oysters and parsley. Simmer on medium, partly covered, for
exactly 5 minutes. Add whipped cream and serve immediately.

NOTES:

* Chicken broth with artichokes and poached oysters ~ This is a modern
cajunstyle recipe that I adapted from a local conveniencefood cookbook by
Jean Durkee. It's an intriguing combination of modern American ingredients
with traditional cajun flavorings.

* Fresh parsley tastes much better than dried parsley. If the oysters are
bigger than a small bitesize, cut them up before adding them to the soup.
Use the smallest oysters you can find.

* When I'm not making a double recipe, I usually dump the entire (about
1cup) container of whipping cream into the soup, even though that's double
what the recipe calls form.

* The timing on cooking the oysters is fairly critical. If you overcook
them, they will be rubbery.

: Difficulty: easy.
: Time: 20 minutes.
: Precision: measure the spices.

: Deborah Pedersen
: Microelectronics Computer Corporation, Austin TX
: pedersen@mcchi2.ARPA

: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini