New Orleans Style Oyster Patties

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If you have been navigating around my blog or perhaps if you subscribe, you may have run across my New Orleans' Tamale post.  In that post, I discuss the once upon a time of New Orleans and how so many things “ain’t der’ no more”.  (sigh)

So many things of the city are gone. Traditions lost......I wish I could blame it on Katrina, but most were gone prior to her.

The tradition of family Christmas parties have been LONG LONG gone in my family.  A lot of my family (aunts, uncles and cousins) would get together Christmas Eve. I know that sounds normal, right?  As a child this was normal for my family.  Christmas Eve.....our family would get together for fun and food.  Santa (an uncle dressed in plastic Santa suit) would come down the street in my dad's old army jeep that he used in the woods for hunting.  It was a great time!

In the early 70's,  a lot of my family lived on the same streets and if not the same street, it was just a few streets over from each other.  I guess I am trying to tell you that we were all very close.  As times were changing in the area we lived in, my parents decided to move my immediate family to what we call "across the lake" ....from the South Shore of Lake Pontchartrain to the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  My heart was shattered leaving so many cousins as well as traditions....that is another post so I will get back on track now.

I remember the food was so delicious at the parties.  My grandparents would do a lot of the cooking.  I am sure aunts would bring food too.  One of yummies that stand strong in my memory is the oyster patties.  One of the local bakeries would carry empty pastry shells.  These pastry shells were bite size.  My family would fill them with a rich oyster filling....very similar to oyster dressing.

Well... just as the dynamics of the landscape changed and as the dynamics of our family changed, so did a lot of New Orleans originals....bakeries, drugstores, restaurants, etc...  Mackenzie's was the bakery that carried the pastry shells.  It's is part of the "ain't der' no more" so when your family stops having Christmas parties and the bakery that  carried a tradition has been long gone out of business, one is kind of out of luck on their favorite holiday party hors d'oeuvre. Although I am very lucky to have the memories, I realize that may also be part of the "ain't der' no more"  one day.  My favorite great aunt is experiencing this right now.  Alzheimers ....it's not a kind decease.

My cousin, her son, had been gone through her recipes one day and ran across the recipe for Mackenzie's Oyster Patties.  When he showed it to me, I was so excited because I had recently saw that a local New Orleans' grocery store, Rouses, was carrying the pastry shell.

AND that my friends is the beginning of our new history.

We are even getting together this year to have a family Christmas party on the eve of Christmas Eve.  I will add a picture of the cousins once it happens.

Guess what I will be bringing???

Before the bake.

After the bake.

And if you've followed or read any of my other recipes, you know I have to put my own twist to it.  I get it....if it ain't broke, don't fix it. BUT...as I was making this, I found it to have a lot more liquid than I thought it should.  So I added a 1/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs.  Who doesn't like Italian bread crumbs anyway???

Oyster Patties

1       pint of oysters and liquid (I chop the oysters with a knife.)

1       onion grated (I put it in the food processor.)

1       tablespoon of flour

1/4    cup of Italian bread crumbs

2       tablespoons of butter, melted

1/2    cup chopped mushrooms and juice

         Salt and Pepper

         Dash of cayenne pepper 

1/4    teaspoon of lemon juice 

2       tablespoons of parsley  (I skip this ingredient) 

36     small pattie shells* (I get mine from Rouses.....a local LA grocery store.) 

• Cook oyster in their liquid by bringing them to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes
• Saute' onions in butter, blend in flour until smooth
• Add remaining ingredients and oysters.  Cook 5 minutes
• Fill pastry shell with mixture, bake in oven at 370* for 5-8 minutes

*If you can not get pastry shells from a bakery, you may use Pepperidge Farms Pastry Sheets.  Cut a  sheet into 1"x 1.5" rectangles and bake according to the box.  I am not sure how many sheets of the dough you'll need since I have  access to the shells.  I just know this will work.  Once you bake the rectangles, take the top layer off and fill with mixture.   It will be more like an Oyster Napoleon, but will still have the rich yummy taste as an oyster pattie in a pastry shell.  

I will also be bringing my Tamale Balls. Click here for that recipe.