Sometimes simple is better, and often that’s the case with
picnic food. My requirements for a nice picnic are a pleasant, reasonably
private setting, clement weather and a properly stuffed picnic hamper of
goodies. Some small savory element, like last year’s homemade gherkins, must be
snuck into a crevice somewhere. Bonus points if there’s leftover blueberry pie,
but that’s for the perfect picnic, and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of
the good.
Our most recent picnic qualified as a perfectly nice outing.
Schaar’s Bluff, where you have a panoramic vista of the river and where eagles
soar at eye height along the bluff, provided the setting. Nature provided the
weather. I naturally provided the goodies: roast beef sandwiches with
honey-mustard dressing, a carrot-cranberry-parsley salad (I substitute cilantro
for half the parsley), mixed fruit and lemon Parmesan dip with veggies.
Roast beef sandwiches
with honey-mustard sauce
Adapted from “Winnie-the-Pooh’s Picnic Cookbook,” inspired
by A.A. Milne and with “decorations” by Ernest Shepard. As Christopher Robin
and crew know something about rambling about and the need for proper sustenance
after such rambling, it’s fitting that someone assembled a book of picnic
recipes, interspersed with Shepard illustrations and Milne quotes. They’re all
very straightforward, so the younger set can likely help prepare most of them.
As an adorer of both picnics and Pooh stories, naturally I own it.
Ingredients
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
½ cup canola or light olive oil
6 kaiser rolls
1 pound sliced roast beef
6 lettuce leaves
2 sliced tomatoes, in season, or substitute two roasted red
peppers, sliced
Method
Mix mustards, honey and vinegar in a jar. Whisk in olive oil
until it emulsifies. This will make about a half cup, so you can be thinking of
what you might like to do with the leftovers.
Split Kaiser rolls in half. Spread both halves with a bit of
the dressing. Top with roast beef slices, lettuce and either tomatoes or
roasted peppers, then Kaiser roll lid. Slice in half and wrap tightly with
plastic wrap for ease of transport.
Rating: Simple
but perfectly sustaining after rambling about. The dressing pairs well with
beef, but its highest and best use is tossed with greens as a dressing.
Lemon Parmesan dip
From “Saveur The New Classics Cookbook”
Ingredients
1½ cups mayonnaise
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, mashed into a paste
Zest of 1 lemon
Method
Combine all ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.
Rating: Nice and
lemony fresh. Fine as a dip. Leftovers also worked well as a sandwich spread.
Sarah’s carrot
parsley salad
This recipe ran in the Star Tribune Taste section some years
back, but I can’t find it to link to. No idea who the Sarah referred to is, at
this point, but she made a tasty salad that travels well, so it’s good picnic
fodder.
Ingredients
3½ cups grated carrots (I substituted the precut matchstick
carrots this time; a variety of colors of carrots makes for a prettier salad)
1 cup chopped parsley
½ cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 large garlic clove, pressed
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Method
Combine carrots, herbs and cranberries in a large bowl. Whisk together
remaining ingredients and toss over carrot mixture. It's best if it has at least an hour to sit, so about however long it takes to get to your picnic spot will do.
Oh, and one more picnic requirement: proper table setting. Paper
plates have no role outside of the overly large family gathering, which rarely
qualifies as a good picnic. Given their propensity to become airborne when
empty, they’re the enemy of food enjoyment. And plastic forks are a desperation
measure, not a civilized means of consuming food. That’s not snobbery talking,
that’s practicality. Although I’ll cut you some slack if you’ve perpetrated
small children.
In the case of true picnic snobbery, you’d have to resort to
this:
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