Picnic Society

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Issue 46

The Food Issue

Make a meal to die for
Make wine crate cabinets
Learn to screen print

Picnic Society

Outdoor meals can veer into culinary clichés (cold cuts and macaroni salad, anyone?). ReadyMade challenged designers Victoria Granof and Rachel Haas to concoct a plein air meal for our postboom times. In their picnic spread, vivid flavors and colors make for a feast that’s both cheerful and sophisticated.

by Katherine Sharpe; Food styling by Victoria Granof; Prop styling by Rachel Haas

Photos by Marcus Nilsson

An American classic gets remixed. Foraged greens + coffee can ice cream = splendor in the grass.

Wild at Heart
Steve Brill, aka The Wildman, is a modern-day forager who guides plant- gathering tours in New York City (wildmanstevebrill
.com). On a trip with Brill to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Granof picked the dandelion greens that give a kick to her Yukon Gold potato salad. If hunting for your dinner doesn’t tempt you, purchased bitter greens like dandelion or mustard work just as well.

Bagged Salad
Granof loves microgreens—the tiny, tender shoots of salad plants and vegetables—but they cost a bundle at her local farmer’s market. So, as a thrifty work-around, she grew her own. Bonus: She sprouted the microgreens in muslin bags that, four days later, were ready to be carried straight to the picnic site. (See below for how-to.)

Eye Candy
In picking tableware, Haas had two things in mind: color and reusability. She replaced the traditional picnic blanket with a bevy of her favorite scarves, and hunted down enameled tin plates, which won’t blow away, at vintage and surplus stores. She loves Kikkerland’s Orleans Flatware—made of plastic, but substantial enough to wash and use at your next picnic (kikkerlandshop.com).

Straight from the Can
News flash: You don’t need an ice cream maker to churn up a batch of the cold, sweet stuff. All it really takes is ice, salt, and a smaller container nested inside a larger one. “It’s kind of an old Midwestern trick,” Granof says of coffee-can ice cream. She picked lemongrass as a brightening flavor note, and a nod to the picnic’s Eastern feel.

Let It Be
In general, Granof favors picnic foods that actually become better with travel, like her melon and cucumber salad that marinates on the way to its destination. She has even been known to pack sandwiches at the bottom of a cooler, where they become pressed on purpose. The best picnic foods, she says, balance ease of handling with a certain amount of drippy fun—the essence of a communal picnic experience.

How to Grow Microgreens
First, pick your seeds. Radish, mustard, broccoli, and clover all make good microgreens. Get seeds at a garden or hardware store, or online through a purveyor like Seeds of Change (seedsofchange.com). Place the seeds in small, unbleached muslin bags (sold as “sprout bags” at online suppliers), dampen the bags, and allow the seeds to sprout in a dark place. Then hang the bags in a sunny corner of your kitchen. Three to 10 days later (depending on what you planted), reap the rewards.

How to Make Coffee Can Ice Cream
Save a small metal coffee can and a large one, with tight-fitting lids. Place the ice cream ingredients in the small can (see recipe in ‘Make It,’ below), tape the lid shut, and chill. Half an hour before dessert, place the small can in the large can and pack the extra space with ice and a cup of salt. Rock salt, with its large crystals, is best, but coarse table salt can work too. (Salt melts and super-cools the ice, allowing your ice cream to freeze.) Roll the can back and forth for 20 minutes—perfect entertainment for restless children or adult picnic guests. Then open up, and say “aah.”

Vietnamese Sandwiches
4 12-inch baguettes or sandwich rolls
marinated carrots (recipe follows)
1 lb. tofu, pressed at least 2 hours to remove excess liquid and marinated (recipe follows); or 4 chicken breast halves, sliced into thin cutlets and marinated
butter for spreading
thinly sliced raw jalapenos (optional)
thin slices of red onion (optional)
sprigs of cilantro
Split bread lengthwise. Spread both sides with softened butter, and layer ingredients. Wrap in paper towels, then in cloth napkins to transport.

Marinated Carrots
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded (about ½ c. shredded)
½ c. white vinegar
½ c. sugar
½ tsp. Salt
Place the carrots in a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. In a small saucepan, stir together vinegar, sugar, and salt and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Cool 10 minutes, then pour over the carrots in the jar. Cool, cover, and chill. Make at least 2 hours before you plan to serve them.

Marinade for Tofu or Chicken
3 shallots, peeled and chunked
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2” piece of ginger, peeled and chunked
Juice of 4 limes
3 Tbsp. fish sauce (nam pla)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
In a blender or small food processor, combine the shallots, garlic, ginger, and lime juice and blend until it forms a loose paste. Scrape into a bowl and mix in the fish and soy sauce. Set aside half of this for the melon and cucumber salad. Add the pressed tofu or chicken cutlets to the remaining marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least an hour. Grill over high heat for a minute on each side, basting with sauce.

Melon and Cucumber Salad with Basil and Peanuts
1 qt. melon, cut into 1” cubes (we used watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe)
The reserved tofu or chicken marinade
1 small cucumber, seeded and cut into 1” cubes
shreds of basil leaves
handful of roasted peanuts, chopped
lime juice (optional)
Combine all ingredients except peanuts and chill an hour before serving. To serve, sprinkle with the peanuts and a squeeze of lime juice.

Red Miso Dressing
1 Tbsp. red miso paste
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. Prepared mustard (we used dijon)
½ tsp. Chinese five spice powder
1⁄3 c. canola oil
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine miso paste, vinegar, and hot water. Shake until miso dissolves. Add mustard and five spice powder, and shake to combine. Add oil all at once and shake again until emulsified.
Makes about ½ c. dressing.

Yukon Gold Potato Salad with Foraged Greens
2 lbs. small Yukon Gold potatoes, simmered or steamed until tender
½ c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 handful dandelion or mustard greens, or any other spicy green
2 tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. white pepper
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
While potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a large saute pan and cook the garlic until it becomes fragrant and begins to brown. Add the greens, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-high heat for a minute or two, until greens are wilted. Add lemon juice and remove from heat. Drain potatoes, cut in half while warm, and add the contents of the saute pan. Toss, adding freshly grated lemon zest and seasoning as desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lemon Gingerade
1 hand-sized piece ginger root
1 qt. Water
1 c. sugar
½ tsp. White peppercorns
Juice and zest of 3 lemons
Seltzer, to serve
thinly sliced lemon for garnish
Slice (not necessary to peel) the ginger crosswise and add to the water along with the sugar and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, stir until sugar is dissolved, and simmer for an hour or until reduced to 1 c. liquid. Add juice and zest and chill. When ready to serve, combine ¼ of the syrup/ginger with
1 cup of seltzer. (This drink is also good hot.)

Coffee-Can Lemongrass-Vanilla Ice Cream
4 stalks lemongrass
½ c. milk
1 ½ c. heavy cream
½ c. sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1–lb. coffee can with plastic lid
5-lb. coffee can with plastic lid
crushed ice
1 c. rock salt or coarse table salt
duct tape
The day before you plan to make this, chop the bottom 4” off the lemongrass and place it in a small saucepan with the milk. Bring to a boil, turn off, and allow to cool. When cooled, strain the milk, pressing on the solids, and discard the lemongrass. Pour the milk, along with the cream, sugar, and vanilla, into the small coffee can, tightly tape it closed, and chill overnight. The next day, place the small can inside the large can and transport in a cooler along with the ice and salt to the picnic. When you’re ready to finish the ice cream, open the large coffee can and pack it with the ice and salt. Replace the lid and duct tape that shut. Now roll the can back and forth (from one person to another—that’s the fun) for about 20 minutes. Remove the small can, open, and serve!