July menus - recipes

Sunset, July, 1993 by Christine Weber Hale

QUICK SEASONAL, BUDGET-WISE--FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Potlucks and the Fourth of July have a proven track record as good partners. Make-ahead foods and shared contributions produce this easily paced meal that frees up the day for other important activities, such as games and competitions and visiting with family and friends.

As the thermometer marches higher on July's bona fide summer days, tame the heat's impact with cool meals. Try France's nicoise salad for a light supper, and toast, Italian-style, for brunch.

JULY FOURTH POTLUCK FOR 12

Grilled Hot Dogs and Sausages

Potluck Condiment Bar

Firecracker Rice Salad with Avocados and Tomatoes

Star-Spangled Banner Cake

Lemonade Beer Mineral Water

Get the party under way the day before, if you like. The salad keeps well for two days. For neat, easy cutting and serving, the berry- and cream-filled cake needs to stand at least 4 hours beforehand, or it can be chilled up to a day.

To please all appetites, invite guests to bring their own sausages and a condiment they like; expect variety to range from salsa to chutneys, cheeses to mustards. Provide a grill with hot coals when it's time to warm or cook the sausages. Provide plenty of buns; extras can be frozen.

Firecracker Rice Salad with Avocados and Tomatoes

9 cups regular-strength chicken broth

5 cups long-grain white rice

1 cup lime juice

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (coriander)

2 small (about 1 oz. total) jalapeno chilies, stemmed, seeded, and minced

3/4 pound jack cheese, shredded

2 large (about 1 3/4 lb. total) firm-ripe avocados

6 medium-size (about 3 lb. total) firm-ripe tomatoes, cored and sliced

In a 3- to 4-quart pan over high heat, bring 8 cups broth to a boil. Add rice, cover, and simmer until rice is just tender to bite, about 15 minutes. Drain rice, reserving any liquid. Pour rice into a large bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Mix rice with reserved broth, remaining 1 cup broth, 3/4 cup lime juice, cilantro, and chilies. If making ahead, cover and chill up to 2 days.

Spoon salad onto a large platter; sprinkle cheese over and around salad.

Pit, peel, and slice avocados lengthwise; moisten slices with remaining lime juice. Arrange avocado and tomato slices on platter with rice. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Per serving: 387 cal. (33 percent from fat); 12 g protein; 14 g fat (1.3 g sat.); 55 g carbo.; 160 mg sodium; 19 mg chol.

Star-Spangled Banner Cake

If you want to decorate dessert plates, rinse, drain, and puree separately 1 to 1 1/2 cups each blueberries and hulled strawberries. Sweeten purees to taste and dribble onto plates from a spoon shortly before serving cake.

1 angel food cake (9-inch size, about 14 oz.)

3 cups strawberries, rinsed and drained

3 cups whipping cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup blueberries (or frozen unsweetened blueberries), rinsed and drained

With a long, serrated knife, cut a 1-inch-thick horizontal slice from the top of the cake. With knife and your fingers, hollow out a trench in cake, leaving 1/2-inch-thick walls and bottom. Reserve cake pieces and top.

Hull 1 1/2 cups of the strawberries; reserve remaining berries. Puree hulled berries in a blender or food processor; pour into a bowl.

In a large, deep bowl, whip cream until it holds soft peaks; mix in sugar and vanilla. Spoon 2 cups of the whipped cream into the strawberry puree. Tear reserved cake pieces into about 1/2-inch chunks and drop into the strawberry mixture. Gently fold mixture together and spoon into the hollowed trench in cake; use all the filling, pressing down gently to fill corners.

Set cake top in place; frost top and sides of cake with remaining cream. Cover cake without touching (under a large inverted bowl) and chill at least 4 hours or up to 1 day. Decorate cake with remaining strawberries and blueberries. Serves 12 to 16.

Per serving: 225 cal. (56 percent from fat); 2.7 g protein; 14 g fat (8.7 g sat.); 23 g carbo.; 202 mg sodium; 50 mg chol.

SUPPER SALAD FROM NICE

'90s Nicoise Salad

Caper Dressing

Baguette

Apricots with Orange Muscat Wine and Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Dry Chenin Blanc

Iced Tea with Mint

If there's time, have the salad makings ready and waiting in the refrigerator a day ahead. Cut a few slices of bread from a crusty baguette to use with the salad.

For dessert, slice sweet, ripe apricots into small bowls, pour orange muscat wine over the fruit, then top with scoops of frozen yogurt.

'90s Nicoise Salad

Add caper dressing to taste.

1 1/4 pounds (about 2 1/2-in.-wide) thin-skinned potatoes, scrubbed

1/2 pound small, tender green beans

4 hard-cooked eggs

1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers, drained

1 can (12 to 13 oz.) water-packed albacore tuna

1/2 pound rinsed and crisped mesclun or bite-size pieces mixed salad greens

3/4 cup nicoise olives

Aioli crusts (recipe follows)

Salt and pepper

In a 4- to 5-quart pan, combine potatoes and 3 quarts of water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat; simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove potatoes from water with a slotted spoon; set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, trim ends from green beans. Bring water in pan back to a boil on high heat and add beans. Cook, uncovered, until beans are just barely tender when pierced, about 2 minutes. Drain beans and immediately immerse in ice water. When cold, drain.