Baked Oysters with Garlic, Spinach and Parmesan

A lighter take on oysters Rockefeller, with no butter sauce: just garlicky spinach, a little Parmesan and crisp crumbs. Opening them takes a minute or two of practice. The baking takes ten minutes, and cooking also makes oysters a safer choice than eating them raw.

Dinner

Serves 2 (6 oysters each) as a starter or light meal

Baked oysters on the half shell topped with spinach and golden Parmesan crumbs, served on rock salt with lemon wedges

Ingredients

12 fresh live oysters in the shell (rock or Pacific oysters)
150g spinach
1 small shallot, finely chopped (about 30g)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
25g Parmesan, finely grated
20g dried breadcrumbs or panko
1 lemon: zest of half, the rest cut into wedges
A pinch of chilli flakes and black pepper
Rock salt or crumpled foil, to hold the shells steady

Method

Check the oysters. The shells should be closed, or close firmly when you tap them. Throw away any that stay open or are cracked. Keep them in the fridge, round side down, until you are ready.
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan). Cover a baking tray with a layer of rock salt or crumpled foil so the shells sit level and keep their juices.
Open the oysters. Fold a tea towel several times and hold an oyster in it, flat side up, hinge towards you. Push the tip of an oyster knife into the hinge and twist until it pops. Slide the knife along the inside of the top shell to cut the muscle, lift the lid off, then run the knife under the oyster to loosen it. Keep as much of the liquid in the shell as you can and set it on the tray.
Warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the shallot for 3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and chilli for 30 seconds, then the spinach, and stir until just wilted.
Tip the spinach into a sieve and press it hard with a spoon to squeeze out the water, then chop it finely. Wet spinach floods the shells and stops the topping crisping.
Mix the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, lemon zest and some black pepper.
Spoon a little spinach over each oyster and sprinkle the Parmesan crumbs on top.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the topping is golden and the edges of the oysters have curled. Serve straight away with lemon wedges. For a light dinner, add a green salad and a slice of sourdough.

Why it works

No food contains more zinc per serving than oysters. Levels vary with the species and where they grew, but six oysters typically provide more than the 9.5mg a day recommended for men in the UK, along with plenty of vitamin B12 and selenium.

Zinc is needed to make testosterone and sperm, which is why oysters have their reputation. The honest limit is that extra zinc only helps if you are short of it. In men with normal zinc levels, more does not raise testosterone: does zinc raise testosterone? Getting it from oysters once in a while is a better route than a daily high-dose zinc supplement, which can reduce copper absorption over time.

Why bake rather than eat them raw. Raw shellfish can carry harmful bacteria and viruses, including norovirus. Cooking them thoroughly lowers the risk, and UK pregnancy advice lists thoroughly cooked shellfish as safe while raw shellfish should be avoided. It is still worth buying from a fishmonger you trust and eating them on the day you buy them.

The topping keeps the dish light: a little olive oil instead of the butter sauce in classic oysters Rockefeller, and spinach and garlic doing most of the work. Six oysters come to about 260 calories with the topping.

If you prefer your seafood in a bowl, mussels in tomato and garlic broth is another quick, zinc-rich shellfish dinner.

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