Oysters Rockefeller - suggestions/recommendations?

The one time I made them I just made a spinach cream sauce on the stove top and had that at the pit when we put the oysters on. Topped each with the spinach then parmesan and let it rock. Not even sure if that's authentic to a true Rockefeller but it damn sure was delicious. Better than char-broiled IMO.

Fry bacon and reserve grease. Add half a stick of butter and chopped holy trinity + crushed garlic. Saute them down. Add half & half cream and bring to a bubbling simmer. Add spinach and let cook down. Crumble bacon back in and season to taste.

I've never made it, but Tom Fitzmorris claims that his recipe is so close the secret Antoine's recipe that the restaurant asked if they could give it to customers who asked for a recipe.

LINK

If you want to start from scratch to recreate the dish, here are a couple of things:

Originally, the dish was intended as a substitute or extension of escargot, so that's where I'd go for insight into ingredients.

I was disappointed to taste Oysters Rockefeller at Antoine's. I don't understand the hype.

Antoine's has consistently said there's NO spinach in it. I think the green comes from parsley, lots of parsley.

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Antoine's has consistently said there's NO spinach in it. I think the green comes from parsley, lots of parsley.

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This would make sense if the dish started as a riff on escargot.

This is the one I use. Pretty close to the original at Antoine's. It's a lot of ingredients, but well worth the effort.

Four dozen oysters
Water from oysters, plus enough more water to make two cups
2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped green onion tops
2 cups chopped parsley, stems removed
1 cup chopped fresh fennel
1 cup chopped watercress
1/2 tsp. chopped fresh garlic
3 anchovy fillets
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. white pepper
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
2 drops green food coloring (optional but authentic)
2 sticks butter
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups very fine fresh bread crumbs

1. Combine the vegetables and the anchovies in small batches and chop to a near-puree in a food processor, using the oyster water to help things along.
2. Combine this green slurry and the rest of the oyster water in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring every now and then, until the excess water is gone but the greens remain very moist. Add sugar, ketchup, salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, bitters and food coloring.
3. Make a blond roux with the butter and flour. Blend well into the greens, until the sauce takes on a different, lighter texture. Then mix in the bread crumbs.
4. Place large, fresh oysters into oyster shells, small ovenproof ramekins, or small au gratin dishes. Top each oyster with a generous tablespoon of sauce (or more, if you like). Bake 15 minutes in a preheated 450-degree oven, or until the top of the sauce has barely begun to brown. Serve right away.
Enjoy!!!

I think this may have been from one of Fitzmorris' cook books. I just have it saved in my recipe file on my desk top. I make it about three times a year when we do oyster parties. It's best when you shuck the oysters fresh.

My dad would make a killer oyster rockefeller soup. Man I miss that...

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Antoine's has consistently said there's NO spinach in it.

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Dang. Does anybody use spinach? Why did I always assume it did? Ftr, I'd never eaten them before that time I made them.

The more you know...