Recipe: Roasted oysters with chipotle butter

Total time: 35 minutes

Servings: 6 to 8

6 tablespoons butter

3 teaspoons coarsely chopped garlic

2 to 5 canned chipotle peppers plus 1 1/2 tablespoons adobo (liquid reserved from the can)

4 cups rock salt

2 dozen oysters

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter in a small skillet. In a blender, purée the garlic, 2 chipotles and the adobo until smooth. With the blender running, add the butter. Taste the butter and blend in additional chipotles if desired. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and set aside to cool.

2. Spread the rock salt in the bottom of a jellyroll pan. Place the oysters, cup-side down, on the rock salt. Roast until the oysters begin to open, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Remove the oysters from the oven and open them, separating the muscle at the top and the bottom and discarding the flat top shell. Spoon about one-half teaspoon of the chipotle butter mixture onto each oyster and then return them to the oven until the butter melts and the oyster plumps and firms, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Each serving: 102 calories; 2 grams protein; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 9 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 33 mg. cholesterol; 84 mg. sodium.