It’s hot out, its hot in, you really don’t want to cook. How about making a great picnic, packing it up and taking it to your favorite spot – the beach, the lake, the backyard. Relax, soak up that sunshine – watch the sailboats, clouds or just the kids on the swings, remember how it used to feel when it was almost time to go back to school and you treasured every single moment of the last few weeks of summer.
A few notes: You need to be careful in this heat not to pack food that spoils easily or needs to be temperature specific to be enjoyed. We have proposed a mayonnaise free menu here and only one thing needs to be cooked – the cobbler – and it’s better to make the night before anyway.
Packing checklist – plates (enough for separate cobbler serving), fork-knife-spoon sets (put each setting plus a napkin and a packaged handi-wipe in a ziplock baggie), a roll of papertowels, a corkscrew, bottled water (stick it in the freezer for twenty minutes before you go), glasses (ceramic mugs are better if you don’t mind the weight – the wine will taste better and the water stay cooler), a blanket, hats, mosquito repellant, and sunscreen.
DOG DAYS PICNIC MENU
• Herb Roasted Chicken – purchased at the deli of your grocery, carved while warm and packed in a pretty casserole dish.
• French Bread with Herbed Cheese – from the deli, too (we like Rondele)
• Cold Corn Salad
• Chase’s Farmer’s Market Peach & Blueberry Cobbler
• A bottle of Spanish Rose or Beaujolais (chill it ahead of time and take it in an insulated sleeve) – see the sidebar for more suggestions
Cold Corn Salad
Package of frozen whole kernel corn, nearly thawed
8 slices of crispy bacon, crumbled
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 chopped fresh jalepeno peppers, seeds & such removed
1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped
1 cup grated jack cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
Mix veggies together, then stir in enough dressing to coat them. Stir in grated cheese and bacon. The corn will keep thawing but its chill will help keep the salad cool on the way to the picnic.
Enjoy!
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Dama Bianca (Lady in White)
1 pound fresh buffalo mozzarella
1 fennel bulb
1 celery heart, white stalks only
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
If mozzarella is packed in water, drain well. Place on paper towels to absorb excess water.
Cut off the feathery stalks of the fennel and trim away any bruised areas. Cut the bulb in half and remove the core. Slice the fennel into julienne. Cut the leafy tops off the celery. Trim the base. Ideally, use a vegetable peeler to remove most of the "string" from the outer layer of the celery. Cut the celery crosswise into thin slices.
Cut the mozzarella into thin slices and arrange on a platter. Scatter the fennel and celery over the top. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.
(Picnic variation: just throw it all into your container and mix it up.)
Note: A Japanese mandoline (benriner) is useful for preparing this, but not at all necessary.
(Adapted from Verdura: Vegetables Italian Style by Viana La Place.)
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