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A briny carrot and olive spread jazzes up eggplant and mozzarella panini.
Recipes designed for outdoor living
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Jack Bishop
Author, editor, and vegetable enthusiast
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Dining alfresco makes everything taste better. If you can, why not serve dinner on a porch, patio, or roof deck? Even better, pack a picnic and head to the park, beach, or mountains. I’ve put together five suggestions that transport well and don’t require a knife. It’s picnic time.
“Spuckie” is a term used in the Boston area for a sub sandwich made with Italian cheeses and meats. My friends at
Cutty’s in Brookline Village have reinvented this New England classic for vegetarians. Use a food processor to turn carrots, jarred roasted red peppers, black olives, parsley, and garlic into a potent spread for toasted ciabatta rolls. Layer in broiled eggplant and sliced fresh mozzarella and you’ve made one of my all-time favorite sandwiches. The carrot-olive puree not only adds tons of flavor but it also helps “glue” everything together. Wrap these
eggplant and mozzarella sandwiches tightly in paper or plastic and you’re good to go.
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Pasta salad is almost a cliché when it comes to picnics.
Chilled soba noodles are an easy way to freshen up this idea. A gingery miso dressing works beautifully with the buckwheat noodles. Bring the veggies in a single separate container and toss just before serving. The recipe suggests snow peas, cucumber, radishes, and scallions, but feel free to sub in sliced sugar snaps, carrot ribbons, edamame, or cilantro. Toasted nori packed in a tiny container is a lovely garnish, but toasted sesame seeds or walnuts can provide the crunchy element instead. Go ahead and add them to the noodles along with dressing—unlike nori, they won’t sog out.
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I like something unexpected at a picnic. Refreshing chopped vegetable salads are common across the Eastern Mediterranean.
Chopped Vegetable and Stone Fruit Salad takes its cues from this tradition but replaces the usual tomatoes with chopped nectarines, peaches, plums, and/or apricots. The sweet fruit plays nicely with radishes, red bell pepper, and cucumbers. A lemony dressing, parsley, mint, and puckery ground sumac make the fruit and veggies sing. Bring along pita wedges and garnish with crumbled feta if you want something creamy.
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