USVI-On-Line

Next weekend I am heading up to Tanglewood to see Garrison Keillor. (Card carrying NPR Geek that I am )

I will be making roasted shrimp and orzo salad and the folks that we are going with are bringing cheese, fruit, and wine.

I would like to bring some sort of meat, but it will have to be sold.
I was thinking Chicken Satay Skewers, but will they be OK cold?

Any suggestions?

I don't love chicken cold - well not chicken that isn't chicken salad. what about a sliced flank that you grill just before you go so that it's only just room temp. when you are eating it?

ps is the shrimp and orzo a barefoot contessa recipe? my sis made that for our mother's day lunch and it was so good!

It is her recipe and it is my go to summer salad.

For picnics, I love rare roast beef sandwiches on sourdough bread with boursin (or aloutte) cheese. Yummy served cold. Add lettuce and tomatoes if desired.

I love to make wraps for picnics.
My 3 favs are:
roast turkey with cream cheese/dried cranberry as the spread
ham with brie,thin sliced granny smith apples & spicy mustard
roast beef with roasted tomatoes, lettuce & cheese of choice, spicy mustard

mbw1024 wrote:I don't love chicken cold - well not chicken that isn't chicken salad. what about a sliced flank that you grill just before you go so that it's only just room temp. when you are eating it?
ps is the shrimp and orzo a barefoot contessa recipe? my sis made that for our mother's day lunch and it was so good!

Last week I had (at a local restaurant) sliced flank steak, served cold with a lime ginger dipping sauce. It was excellent. The sauce was thin and I am guessing it was a blend of lime juice, fresh ginger and sesame oil. So refreshing.

X - Have had good results bringing warm chicken and beef dishes to picnics using a separate cooler and the techni-ice as a warmer (activate it and freeze it at least once, thaw and then heat on high in microwave).

- Margy

The hot food thing will not be an option. I will be leaving my house before dawn and we will not be picnic-ing (is that a word?) until 4 0r 5, plus I don't want to be hauling more than one cooler.

I think Roast beef and boursin sounds perfect! I think I may even make my own sourdough rolls!

Xislandgirl wrote:I think Roast beef and boursin sounds perfect! !

That does sound good. Do you think it's too fancy for Jimmy Buffet tailgate?

Bumping, because I am going out to Tanglewood with family this weekend! I am doing the picnic Friday night, my Mom is making Saturday's picnic, and we are collaborating on Sunday's picnic. I am working on ideas, but any more suggestions would be appreciated. My Mom and I are a "little" competitive about our cooking, and Tanglewood is all about the impressive food and layout!

Here is what I have so far for Friday:

The roasted shrimp and orzo salad talked about earlier. Question: do you folks who make it use the full cup of fresh dill? That sounds like a lot of dill to me, but then I have never had issues with Ina's recipes before.

Ina's curried chicken salad. I LOVE this recipe! I always put extra cashews and raisins in it.

Baguette and cheeses--definitely brie, probably a goat and a blue, and maybe some aged cheddar.

Olives

Assorted berries (nobody going is huge on dessert, so this is the only dessert for Friday).

I am especially looking for a good vegetable salad recipe that can be assembled in advance (same travel issues as X), and NO tomatoes, because they are not in season yet.

For Sunday, the only thing I have in mind so far are roasted vegetable pan bagnats. My mother is probably going to bring her famous cold fried chicken and if she does that will be the favorite item, so I don't need to go all out on Sunday.

I just remembered that I am planning one more dessert for Friday. There is a good chocolate shop in Great Barrington that sells chocolate covered raspberries, and I am going to pick some of those up.

Ideally, I need three more dishes/salads. No red meat.

Thanks!

I made this salad to take to a friend's house this past weekend - it's kept cold then served at room temp, so it might be a good candidate for a picnic/tailgate:


Roasted Corn, Black Bean & Mango Salad

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (from 3 ears)
1 large ripe mango (about 1 pound), peeled and diced
1 15-ounce or 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 small canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce , drained and chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer the corn mixture to a large bowl. Stir in mango, beans, onion, bell pepper, lime juice, chipotle, cilantro, cumin and salt.

Augie, that sounds great and I'm going to share your recipe with my husband. We did Tanglewood last year for James Taylor and I think it was 4th of July weekend. It was alot of fun. Beckie, the chocolate shop in Gt. Barrington, would it be Catherine's chocolate? I live about 25 minutes from there. Small world. Maybe not so small, we never ran into you on STJ last week. Ali~

Becky- I don't use a full cup. I mix everything together and add the dill in small handfuls and taste it when I think it looks like enough.

To be honest, I make the recipe and I never measure anything. Just wing it.

It was the perfect salad for sitting at Tanglewood. I stole Ina's packing technique and packed them in small chinese food containers. It was the perfect amount for one person and clean up was easy.

Thanks X, I thought a cup sounded like too much.

Augie, thanks for the recipe. I passed it by the folks who are going and it got the seal of approval, so I'm adding it to the menu.

Now, let's just hope for decent weather! I've gone out to Tanglewood four out of the past five years, and we got rained out for three of them! We rented a big barn that's been turned into a house instead of hotel rooms this time so we have room to spread out but still spend time together in case of inclement weather (which seems likely AGAIN, grr).