Blog Posts by Zester Daily

Oysters on the half shell with a nice glass of wine.By Clifford A. Wright

Oysters are terrific bivalves
They have young ones by the score
How they diddle is a riddle
They just keep on having more

Gourmets will wax poetic about great oysters, and why not? They are telling the truth. The most famous American oysters in the 19th century were the Saddle-Rocks taken from a rocky reef in the East River of New York where it meets the Long Island Sound around Little Neck Bay. They were huge and had a particular flavor. Twenty-five Saddle-Rocks could fill a bushel. By 1832, they died out because there were so few on this small exposed reef at low tide and the demand was ravenous.

Learn a good oyster-opening technique -- Oysters are reluctant bivalves whose adductor muscles hold shut shells with such suction that there seems no way to pry them open. Some boorish people use hammers to smash them open, but this is no way to treat a delicacy.

One needs to remove an oyster from its home with the same aplomb that a pickpocket

Time to bring out the picnic basket.

By Zester Daily Staff

The first long weekend of summer is upon us. Time to plan a backyard barbecue or, better yet, a picnic lunch to carry to some sunny park, newly opened beach or quiet spot along the wooded trail. But what to pack?

Zester Daily contributors have the perfect menu for a simple but sophisticated picnic lunch, including dessert and a wine selection.

MAIN COURSE: Fried Chicken. Nothing beats cold fried chicken for a picnic. Make this a day or so ahead and let it hang out in the fridge until you're ready to pack your picnic meal.

Fried Chicken

Serves 4 to 6. Adapted from "The Welcome Table."

Ingredients

2½ to 3-pound frying chicken, cut into pieces

vegetable oil for frying

½ cup flour

¼ cup white cornmeal

1½ tablespoons Bell's poultry seasoning

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Wash the chicken thoroughly and pat the pieces dry with paper towels.

2. Heat the oil to 350 F in a heavy

Forget the white, boiled-to-death cauliflower from your childhood. Embrace colorful, flavorful new cauliflower.By Martha Rose Shulman

I have rarely met a cauliflower dish that I didn't like (well, since my boarding school days, but that's a lifetime ago). This cruciferous vegetable lends itself to salads and curries, soups and beignets, gratins and pasta dishes.

Now that we have fancy purple and golden cauliflowers alongside the white ones at many farmers markets, this vegetable is beginning to develop a bit of a cachet and a price tag, but I'll settle for a nice white cauliflower for under $2.

Related: Don't overcook the broccoli! Give it a quick turn on the griddle.

The trick with cauliflower is to cook it enough, but not to overcook it. Those who don't like the vegetable are probably still informed by memories of overcooked cauliflower served in a college or boarding school dining hall with a gloppy cheese sauce.

Related: Tips for cooking crisp, flavorful cauliflower and other brassica veggies.

You'll get over it when you try these Mediterranean cauliflower

Learn how to determine how hot high the flame should be.By Clifford A. Wright

It's time to fire up the grill for the season, but before you slap dinner over those hot coals, check out our Top 10 tips for grilling everything from veggies to steak.

1. Best results are attained when food is at room temperature before being grilled. Let larger pieces of grilled or spit-roasted meats rest 10 minutes before serving so juices can settle (usually this will happen without planning for it). Lean meats, such as rabbit and chicken breasts, should be grilled close to the flame over very hot coals to sear the meat quickly and trap juices.

Related: Grilled asparagus goes great in a summer salad.

2. Chicken and duck with skin should be grilled farther from the flame or in the cool spot of the grill, covering, uncovering and moving the pieces as needed to avoid flare-ups. Place an aluminum drip pan filled with some water underneath the chicken or duck, letting the fat drip into them, with the coals on either side of the pan. When cooking

Tempting and simple apple cake made from leftover apples.By Laura Holmes Haddad

Patience is not one of my virtues (anyone who knows me will confirm this). But cooking with a toddler requires nothing but. Just when I'd resisted the temptation to open the oven and peek at a cake or incorporate the egg whites too quickly, my daughter dragged her stepstool into the kitchen.

To my 3-year-old daughter, Penelope, cooking and eating should -- and do -- happen simultaneously. She loves nothing more than dumping the flour in while the butter and eggs are still in the early stages of mixing, dipping her finger into a half-prepared cake batter, tasting the raspberries before they become jam and munching on carrots that were intended for the spaghetti sauce.

The real test of my patience begins when I've asked what she would like for dinner. A choice is made, but when she sits down to eat she declares that she asked for spaghetti -- thin spaghetti, in fact. And no, she doesn't like tomato sauce (which she adored only yesterday). I've

Fresh tomatoes from the garden are easy and perfect for summer sauces.By Clifford A. Wright

The best tomato sauce is the one you make from scratch. You start with seedlings. And it's relatively easy to do this, from seedling to sauce, with even minimal experience because tomatoes are great for beginners. You don't have to be a master gardener to produce enough fresh tomatoes to make your own tomato sauce.

Related: Make the perfect quick tomato sauce with an olive oil emulsion.

Tip 1 -- Pick a sunny spot for the tomato garden: Your first task is to pick a spot in your garden or a container that gets at least six hours of sunlight, and preferably more than that. Next you will have to prepare a tomato patch.

If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere, try to choose a southern exposure on land that drains away. For success, you only really need soil, sun and water. You can grow tomatoes in a pot with just a little extra care.

Related: How to turn a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes into a great pasta sauce.

Tip 2 -- Use

Shad is fresh in markets on the East Coast for a limited time.By Kathy Hunt

Forget the nesting songbirds, flowering trees and sunny days. For seafood fans on the East Coast, springtime means the return of the rare seafood delight known as shad.

Each spring, this member of the herring family migrates up the Atlantic coastline to spawn in the rivers from which it originated. Leaving Florida in February, it ends its journey in May in Vermont. During this period, the rich, omega-3-laden fish is at its plumpest and tastiest. Unquestionably, it's also at its best for catching and cooking.

Related: Explore seafood chowder, Norwegian style.

Healthy and full of delicious caviar-like roe

If you've never experienced shad, you may wonder how this bony creature ended up being fished to near-extinction because of overfishing. Among shad enthusiasts, however, there is no question. Possessing firm, oily meat and a mildly sweet yet distinctly savory flavor, it has long rivaled salmon, char and sablefish in taste. High in omega-3 fatty

Soothing Japanese chicken soupBy Mackie Jimbo

There's nothing like a big holiday to inspire moms to break out their most treasured family recipes.

Ozoni, a chicken soup made with mochi rice cakes, is a perfect example. It is the centerpiece of major events, such as Japanese New Year, or oshogatsu, when my entire family gathers together. Oshogatsu typically includes traditions such as mochitsuki (preparing and pounding mochi rice cakes), osoji (cleaning one's house) and lots and lots of cooking. But ozoni is the main event.

Related: How a soup recipe printed on a package of chicken becomes a family's favorite.

My mom's side of the family is from Kyushu province, and our ozoni is very hearty and filled with lots of Japanese vegetables. Big chunks of daikon, Japanese radishes and sato imo, small starchy Japanese potatoes, add rusticity to the soup. Gobo, a long, twig-like root vegetable, gives a pleasantly earthy and nutty flavor, despite its unappetizing appearance.

Related: Spicy chicken soup