The idea for cookbook author Vanessa Seder’s latest book, Eat Cool: Good Food for Hot Days (Rizzoli, March 2021) took root in her kitchen in the summer of 2018. She was working on unrelated recipe development and food styling projects that required nonstop use of her oven during a stretch of steamy weather; her home in Portland was older and lacked air conditioning. At the ends of those long, hot days, Seder says she was desperate to create interesting family dinners that didn’t require prolonged use of a heat source to prepare.
Makes
12 OystersIngredients
- 1 ¼ cups minced unpeeled seedless cucumber
- ¼ cup minced radish
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- ½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups ice cubes
- 12 fresh raw oysters shucked
Instructions
- Place the cucumber, radish, shallot, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The mignonette can be made up to 1 day ahead of time. To serve, place the ice in a food processor and pulse a few times until slightly crushed. Spread the ice out onto a large tray or oyster plate and place the oysters on top of the ice. Serve the oysters immediately with a ramekin of the mignonette sauce, a small spoon, and a few oyster forks.
