If your family is celebrating the holiday with friends and neighbors, the best way to feed the crowd is by organizing a potluck. Fresh produce is plentiful this time of year, and everyone's likely to have a favorite summer salad or casserole to share.
You may want to divide the guest list into three groups, assigning salads and casseroles to one, desserts to another and beverages to the third. If a grill or barbecue pit is available at the picnic site, suggest that each family bring its own chicken, hamburgers or hot dogs, as well.
You'll also need condiments, napkins, serving spoons, disposable plates, eating utensils, trash bags and charcoal briquettes. And to keep an ample supply of beverages cold and accessible, you can provide a trash can filled with ice.
For inspiration, we offer the following menu and recipes. Many of them are classics that the original Fourth of July celebrants were apt to have packed in their picnic baskets. And we've added a few new twists, too: an orangey sauce to spread on barbecued chicken; a bacon topping to sprinkle on potato salad; and maple-flavored whipped cream to crown a truly red, white and blue dessert.
FOURTH OF JULY MENU
Barbecued Chicken
Hamburgers
Hot dogs
Pickles, catsup, mustard and relish
New Potato Salad
Roasted Corn on the Cob
Fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumbers
Fruit Salad
Homemade Lemonade
Strawberry-Blueberry Shortcake
Red, White & Blueberry Freeze Pops
In the universal language of summer, barbecue is spoken everywhere. There's something about cooking and eating outdoors that seems to make food taste even better. Here's an easy-to-spread sauce to keep grill-side for those who want a little tang with their chicken.
1 large yellow onion
2 tbsp. butter
2 large garlic cloves
2 tbsp. water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup catsup
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tbsp. prepared Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1/4 cup orange juice
10 chicken pieces (breasts, thighs or legs)
Peel and dice the onion and sauté in the butter. Mince the garlic cloves and add to the pan. When the onion becomes translucent, add the water and the brown sugar and simmer for about a minute.
Add the catsup, vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and orange rind, stirring all the while with a wooden spoon. Slowly pour the orange juice into the mixture and stir until blended. Continue to simmer over very low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Brush the sauce over the chicken pieces several times while grilling. This recipe yields 2 cups of sauce, enough to coat 4 chicken breasts and 6 chicken legs or thighs.
Corn never tastes better than when it's still on the cob, and cooking it doesn't get much easier than when you roast it on the grill.
1 dozen ears of corn, with husks
1 stick butter
Salt and pepper
Without removing the husks or silk, soak the corn in water for 15 minutes. Remove from the water and place the ears directly on the grill or coals. Rotate them with a pair of tongs while grilling so that all the sides are evenly cooked. The corn should be ready in 8 to 16 minutes, depending on how hot the fire is. Remove from the grill and peel carefully because the ears will be very hot. The husks and silks should come off easily. Spread butter on the corn and season with salt and pepper. Serves 10 to 12.
Here is a great way to "Butter up your ears"
Take a gallon can and fill about 3/4 full with HOT water, melt your butter (a little goes a long way), pour in the can (the butter floats on the water), dip you ear of corn (held by the husks) in the water and your ear of corn is buttered to perfection. No mess, just keep the water hot and add butter (and water) as needed.
If the choice were Ben Franklin's, it's likely the eagle would have been disqualified from its prestigious role as our national bird. Franklin considered the eagle's habit of stealing food from smaller birds a sign of bad character. The turkey, he contended, was more respectable and, being native to America, much more deserving. With that in mind, we dedicate the following recipe (topped with turkey bacon) to the runner-up.
8 to 10 slices of turkey bacon
5 lbs. new potatoes
6 hard-boiled eggs
4 stalks of celery
5 or 6 radishes
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. prepared Dijon mustard
3 scallions
In a frying pan, cook the turkey bacon strips until crisp and let drain on a paper towel. When cool, crumble the bacon into bits and store for later. Scrub the new potatoes and place in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook just until tender enough to pierce with a fork (about 20 minutes). Drain and immediately plunge the potatoes into cold water to prevent further cooking. When they are cool enough to handle, peel and cut the potatoes and put into a large bowl.
Chop the hard-boiled eggs and add to the potatoes. Wash and chop the celery. Scrub the radishes and slice very thin. Add the vegetables to the potatoes and eggs.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip the vinegar, mayonnaise and mustard together, and fold into the other ingredients until they are evenly coated. Keep the salad chilled until it's time to eat. Just before serving, sprinkle the crumbled turkey bacon on top and garnish with snipped scallions or radish rosettes. Serves 10 to 12.
None of the watermelon goes to waste with this decorative salad. The rind becomes a basket full of melon stars and sweet grapes.
1 medium-size watermelon
1 cantaloupe
1 honeydew melon
2 lbs. seedless green or red grapes
To make the watermelon basket, first wash the outer rind with cool water. Then, use a sharp knife to slice off one end of the melon, removing about a quarter of it. With a large serving spoon, scoop out the flesh and reserve for later. Decorate the rind bowl by using the tip of a vegetable peeler or lemon zester to inscribe a star pattern on its outer surface.
Next, cut the cantaloupe in halves and spoon the seeds from the center of each. Use a melon baler to remove the cantaloupe flesh from one of the halves. Use the second half to make melon stars. Set this half on its side and cut it into 1-inch slices. Lay the slices on a cutting board and use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the melon. Repeat the entire process with the honeydew melon. Remove the seeds from the scooped out watermelon and cut additional stars out of it. Wash the grapes and remove them from their stems.
Fill the watermelon basket with the melon balls, stars and grapes. Use any leftover melon and grapes and bamboo skewers to create festive fruit kabobs. Serves 10 to 12.
After helping cut the lemons, you may want to turn this recipe over to the kids--they tend to be the lemonade experts.
6 large lemons
1 cup sugar
2 qt. cold water
Slice the lemons in half and squeeze each of them into a large measuring cup. This should yield about 1 1/2 cups of juice. Remove any seeds.
In a large pitcher or mason jar, combine the juice and the sugar. Stir in 2 quarts of cold water. Serve over ice. (For a nice touch, place mint leaves in the ice cube trays before freezing.) Serves 8 to 10.
Strawberry-Blueberry Shortcake
It's berry-picking season, and this recipe mixes up the best of the red and the blue--fresh strawberries and blueberries spooned over tasty shortcake biscuits and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.
SHORTCAKES
5 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or shortening
2 cups milk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and sugar together in a large bowl. Slice the margarine sticks into pats and add to the dry mixture. Using a handheld pastry cutter or your fingertips, mix the margarine and dry ingredients until they resemble a coarse meal. Avoid overmixing. Make a small well in the center and pour the milk into it. Stir just until the mixture holds together. If the dough appears too sticky, sprinkle in a little more flour.
Turn the shortcake dough onto a lightly floured countertop or pastry cloth and pat into a 1-inch-thick circle, handling it as little as possible. Do not knead the dough; doing so will make the shortcake biscuits heavy.
Use a biscuit cutter or inverted cup to cut out the shortcakes, and arrange about 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool before serving. Makes 10 to 12 shortcake biscuits.
STRAWBERRIES IN SYRUP
2 qt. fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
Wash and hull the strawberries and slice them into a glass bowl. Sprinkle with the sugar. Stir a few times, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The strawberries will release some juice and make a light syrup. Stir once again before spooning the berries on top of the shortcakes.
WHIPPED CREAM
1 pt. whipping cream
2 tbsp. maple syrup
Before whipping the cream, place a stainless steel bowl in the freezer for a little while to chill. Pour the whipping cream into the chilled mixing bowl. Add the maple syrup (you can substitute a teaspoon of vanilla extract or a couple of tablespoons of sugar) and whip with an electric mixer or a whisk until stiff. Keep refrigerated until you're ready to serve the dessert.
To serve the shortcake, split the biscuits into halves. Spoon some of the strawberries and syrup onto the bottom halves. Cover with the remaining shortcake halves and spoon more of the strawberries on top. Top with the whipped cream and garnish with fresh blueberries.
To honor America's birthday, consider presenting this dessert with candles.
Red, White & Blueberry Freeze Pops
Sweet, cool and healthy, these fruity, frozen pops are great pick-me-ups between games.
10 5-oz. plastic or paper cups
1 qt. raspberry juice
10 Popsicle sticks
1 pt. frozen vanilla yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Assemble the cups on a cookie tray. Pour an inch of raspberry juice into each cup, then place the tray in the freezer. When the juice is partially frozen, set a Popsicle stick in the center of each cup and let the juice freeze solid. Next, pour 1 cup of water into a blender. Add 4 large scoops of frozen vanilla yogurt and blend until smooth. Pour an inch of the vanilla mix on top of the frozen raspberry juice layer in each cup and freeze again. Once the vanilla layer sets, blend 1 cup of water, the blueberries and a large scoop of frozen vanilla yogurt. Spoon the blueberry mix into the cups. Freeze overnight. To serve, dip each cup into a bowl of warm water for an instant. The pop should slide out easily. Serves 10.