Recipe by Andrea’s Restaurant and Catering

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 24 large fresh oysters, with their water
• 1 leek
• 24 slices of bacon
• 1 cup lemon cream sauce
• Lemon Cream Sauce: (makes 2 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions:

Preheat the broiler. In a saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water (including the water from the oysters) to a rolling boil. Add the oysters and poach very lightly—only until the edges curl, which should take a minute or less. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Slice the leek in half and remove the roots and the ends of the stalks. Clean the leek well under running water (they usually contain a good deal of sand). Pull the leek apart and poach in the same water as the oysters for about 1 minute, or until the stalks just start to become tender. Remove and slice leek into 1-inch-long pieces. Peel apart the slices of bacon and place them, just touching, in a rectangular pan. Put the pan under the broiler and broil the bacon until it just starts to curl and brown a little bit at the edges. Top each poached oyster with a leek sliver or 2. Roll up each oyster loosely with a piece of bacon, and secure with toothpicks.

Drain the pan in which you broiled the bacon of any excess fat, and array the bacon-wrapped oysters in it. Put the pan under the broiler again and broil 4 to 6 minutes, until small black edges have formed on the bacon. Turn the oysters and broil another 2 or 3 minutes, until lightly brown all over. Serve with lemon cream sauce.

Lemon Cream Sauce: Combine the lemon juice, dry white wine and Worcestershire in a skillet and reduce by half over medium-low heat, then remove from heat. At the same time, reduce the cream over medium heat in a second skillet. When cream is reduced, add salt and pepper. Briskly whisk the lemon juice-wine mixture, a little at a time, into the cream— not the other way around.