| Recipes and Ideas For a Quick Picnic |
|
|
|
advertisement
|
 |
|
A Memorial Day sandwich meant for outdoor eating may be a Caesar burger quickly grilled between raindrops or ham salad in croissants, perfect for a picnic basket. (SHNS file photo by Marcy Nighswander/The Cincinnati Post.)
|
By Joyce Rosencrans
Scripps Howard News Service Here are recipes suited to a quick and simple picnic and a quick burger grill-out in place of more elaborate outdoor bashes. This way, one might work in an outdoor meal between raindrops. Go for your favorite picnic shelter or backyard spot. Be prepared to pack up and run. If truly stormy weather intervenes, then spread out a picnic cloth on the family-room floor and eat your picnic food with the same zest as at a park, but without wind, lightning and rain. Conclude your indoor picnic with toasted mini-marshmallows speared on big toothpicks rotated over votive candles. Use one candle and a pile of marshmallows per person. This is a hoot that never fails to entertain people, as suggested by Cleveland cookbook writer and radio humorist Robin Benzle. Besides, the golden crust is the best part of a toasted marshmallow, and you get more crust with mini-marshmallows. Expand on this do-it-yourself dessert by offering striped-fudge packaged cookies for a variation on s'mores. Seek out locally grown strawberries, too, for eating off their stems. Where there's a will to picnic, there's always a way. Because we like the old-fashioned picnic-hamper style of outdoor meal, let's discuss the grilled Caesar burgers last. How about delicious ham sandwiches when you're in the mood to simply pack up and go, without worrying about briquets, lighter fluid and raw meat? As a cross between ham salad and ham sandwiches, dice baked ham in rather small pieces, blend with sliced celery, sliced green onions and dress with mayonnaise and mustard. Pile on fresh spinach leaves and pale-green leaf lettuce stuffed between split croissants. (Many bakery croissants are more bread-like than the flaky pastry they're supposed to be; choose these less authentic bread-like croissants for these sandwiches.) Picnics are unimaginable without macaroni or potato salad, so here is a boiled-dressing recipe for macaroni that includes lots of fresh vegetables for color and crunch. The Caesar burgers are a production in the kitchen but not at the cookout site. Pat them a bit thinner for quicker cooking outdoors, or simply broil them indoors. Lacking a focaccia-style flatbread (like baked pizza crust with seasoning), serve the highly flavored Caesar burgers between grill-toasted English muffins. Plain sandwich buns aren't nearly good enough for these burgers.
Dijon Ham Salad Sandwiches 1-1/2 cups diced baked ham
1/2 cup sliced celery
2 green onions, sliced with tops
3 Tbs. mayonnaise
1 Tbs. Dijon-style mustard
1/2 tsp. dried savory or 1/4 tsp. dried dillweed
Fresh baby spinach leaves, frilly leaf lettuce
1 tomato, thinly sliced (yellow, if available)
4 croissants, split Preparation: Combine finely diced baked ham, celery, green onions, mayo, mustard and herb. Toss well to coat ham. Layer spinach and lettuce leaves on bottom halves of croissants. Top with ham salad, tomato and top halves of croissants. Anchor sandwiches for traveling by pushing in two picks for each one. Top picks with stuffed olives. Serves: 4
Picnic Macaroni Salad with Boiled Dressing Recipe adapted from Smith and Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook. Ingredients for Macaroni Salad: 8 oz. elbow macaroni
5 hard-cooked eggs
3/4 cup diced Vidalia onion
1 cup sliced celery
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 large carrot, scraped and coarsely grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Capers, optional Ingredients for Boiled Dressing: 3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 Tbs. flour
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1-1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1/2 cup mayonnaise Preparation: Cook macaroni in boiled, salted water according to package directions. Drain. For a colorful salad, prepare packaged macaroni-and-cheese mix, with the powdered-cheese packet. Place all drained macaroni in a large mixing bowl; toss gently with diced hard-cooked eggs, sweet onion, celery, bell pepper, carrot, parsley and capers. For boiled dressing, whisk sugar, flour, vinegar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, a couple of minutes over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Whisk in mustard and mayonnaise. Pour most of the warm dressing over the macaroni mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. Serve cold. Serves: 12
Grilled Caesar Burgers Recipe adapted from Weber. Ingredients: 2 lbs. ground sirloin (ultra-lean beef)
1-1/2 tsp. anchovy paste
1-1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 Tbs. Dijon-style mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. capers, drained
Salt, freshly ground pepper
6 pieces flatbread (focaccia-style), split for buns, or English muffins
Olive oil for brushing
2 garlic cloves, peeled, halved
Parmesan cheese, shaved into thin slices with a vegetable peeler
Sliced tomatoes
Romaine lettuce leaves, rib cut out Preparation: Combine sirloin, anchovy paste, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, capers, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. (Anchovy paste provides enough saltiness for most people; omit extra salt.) Using a large mixing fork, blend ingredients into the ground beef. Shape mixture into 6 patties. Place burgers beneath broiler or on the cooking grate of a preheated gas grill (direct cooking; medium heat) or a charcoal grill (direct cooking over the coals). Turn burgers once halfway through cooking time, about 4 minutes per side or until no longer pink. Cut a burger open to test doneness. A few minutes before burgers are done, brush cut sides of flatbread or English muffins with olive oil and grill cut-sides-down until golden. Rub each half with cut sides of garlic, discarding garlic afterwards. To assemble burgers, place patties on bottom halves of bread and top with several shavings of Parmesan. Follow with tomato slices, romaine lettuce and the top buns. Serves: 6
Quicker Than Burgers Kabobs Ingredients: 1/2 lb. cooked kielbasa, brats or Italian sausage links, 1-inch crosscuts
16 (1-inch) cubes of French bread
16 (1/2-inch) slices of zucchini or yellow summer squash
2 Tbs. garlic spread (a commercial garlic-cheese blend, in refrigerated cases) Preparation: Alternately thread the fully cooked sausage pieces, bread chunks and squash slices (stuck through peel to be more secure) onto skewers. Brush on garlic spread generously. Brown kabobs on a gas grill over medium heat or on a charcoal grill, 4 to 6 inches from medium coals. Cook about 6 minutes, turning once. Shower kabobs with chopped fresh parsley before serving hot off the grill. Note: To cook sausage and render some of the fat, place crosscuts in a large skillet, the bottom covered with water. Bring to a boil and cook until skillet goes dry, shaking pan often. Squash slices may be added to tenderize slightly. Serves: 4 kabobs on 12 to 14-inch metal skewers.
(Joyce Rosencrans is home editor of the Cincinnati Post.) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.
RESOURCES :
Smith and Hawken: The Gardeners' Community Cookbook
Model: 0761117725
Author: Victoria Wise
(September, 1999)
To order this title from Amazon, click here.
Workman Publishing Co. Inc.
New York, NY 10003-9555
Phone: 212-254-5900
Fax: 212-254-8098
| 
)
