In the Kitchen with Ken: Grilling oysters

This week offers plenty of chances to eat succulent oysters in the great outdoors. The Airlie Oyster Roast is Oct. 17 at Airlie Gardens, 300 Airlie Road. This popular fundraiser benefits the 67-acre gardens’ environmental education programs (Details: 798-7706). But that’s just a precursor to the N.C. Oyster Festival, which runs Oct. 18 and 19 in Ocean Isle Beach and features food, music, arts and crafts (Details: 754-6644). Still, you don’t need to go out to eat tasty grilled oysters. Send your recipes or cooking questions to Ken at Ken.Blevins@StarNewsOnline.com.

Options for grilling oysters

These recipes serve 1-2 people.

1 dozen oysters

Horseradish

Ketchup

1 stick of butter

Prepare a grill to place the oyster on in their shell. Your stick of butter should be soft. While waiting for your grill to heat up, in a small bowl mix horseradish and ketchup you want about a 2 to 1 ratio of ketchup to horseradish mix enough to put on the oysters to your liking.

1 dozen oysters

1/2 bag of spinach

Garlic clove

Olive oil

Cook down the spinach in a pan with a small amount of olive oil, you can roast your garlic at the same time. Once the spinach has cooked down place it in a food processor and blend it into a paste.

Shuck your oysters and place them over the direct heat of the grill. Put a teaspoon of butter on each oyster along with a teaspoon of the horseradish mixture or the spinach garlic mixture. Cover the grill and let cook until the edges of the oyster begin to curl. Should be a minute or a little more. Once they’re finished serve in the shell. If you want to put a little lemon on them, feel free.

Note: You can also place oysters on the grill whole and let them cook in their own juices. Once they open up, shuck them and add lemon or butter to taste.