<p>Having just returned from yet another finger-food-in-the-sun activity, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m in a rut about packing picnic food. Sure, cheese and crackers, veggies and hummus, and fruit are wonderful, but it’s getting old. Any ideas to kick it up a notch?</p>
<p>Note: we keep kosher and are most likely to do dairy/parve but are willing to consider a meat picnic, but shellfish is definitely off the table (allergies, never mind the religious aspect!).</p>
<p>Are you barbequing? I like things on skewers, makes it easier to handle. Veggies, fruit, whatever sort of protein you like you can grill.
If not grilling- pasta salads are a standby.</p>
<p>I have a great recipe for a moist, tart lemony French apple cake that travels really well. I used to take it on picnics of the nicer variety. 
If you would like the recipe, I’ll post it. I also have a recipe for a great rice, corn and black bean salad that has been a hit everywhere. I’ll post that if you want. Neither of them need to be kept cold, which is an advantage for picnics.</p>
<p>4 bean salad, guacamole, coleslaw with cranberries, walnuts and honey mustard dressing, penne pasta with chicken, onion and cilantro, spinach quiche.</p>
<p>Consolation, I’d love both recipes!</p>
<p>Senaud’s Apple Cake (I got this recipe from Cuisinart Magazine, decades ago)</p>
<p>1 medium lemon and 1 medium orange, or 2 lemons
1 1/2 cups green apples, peeled and cored (I use Granny Smith)
1 scant cup sugar
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter
3 eggs, separated
1 oz dark rum
1 1/2 scant cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Big pinch of salt</p>
<p>Preheat oven to 350F, butter and flour a 9-in round baking pan.
Remove the rinds of the fruit with a peeler, and set aside.
Slice apples fairly thinly. Should have about 3 cups. Toss with a little lemon juice in a bowl.
Process the rind with 1/2 cup of the sugar in a cuisinart until finely chopped. Add remaining sugar and butter, process until creamy. Add egg yolks and rum, process about 20 seconds, scraping bowl once.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, add to processor. Pulse just until flour disappears.
Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff. Add about 1/4 to the batter and mix. Then scrape batter into bowl with egg whites and fold together.</p>
<p>Cover the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the batter. (It will be stiff.) Layer with 1/2 the apples. Repeat. Cover second layer of apples with remaining batter. (Because the batter will be very thick, don’t expect to fully or smoothly cover the layers of apple.)
Bake 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hrs until tester comes out clean. Let cool 1/2 hour, Unmold.</p>
<p>Consolation, I’d love the recipe for the rice, corn and black bean salad. :)</p>
<p>The cake sounds amazing. Thank you.</p>
<p>Cold fried chicken. You can do it oven fried if you prefer. My favorite pasta salad: penne , cherry tomatoes, large diced onions, kalamata olives (pitted) , cucumber half moons. Keep the cucumber in a separate container And put on top when serving or they get soggy. Make a lemon vinaigrette with lemon juice olive oil and raw garlic. Salt pepper oregano. Dress the pasta as soon as it is cooked while warm. Takes the edge off the garlic. Toss with the rest. This is even better the next day.</p>
<p>Rice, Corn, and Beans Salad</p>
<p>3 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed (16 oz if you cook them yourself)
1 1/2 cups cooked corn
1/3 cup or more chopped scallions
2 fresh or pickled jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced, or the equivalent amount of pickled slices, minced. Don’t worry about seeding if you use pickled.</p>
<p>Dressing
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder (preferably not the kind with salt)*
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin*</p>
<ul>
<li>this is the original amount–I always use heaping spoons</li>
</ul>
<p>Combine rice, corn, beans, scallions, and minced peppers.</p>
<p>Either whisk together dressing ingredients or combine in a jar and shake well. Toss with rice mixture. </p>
<p>Serve at room temperature. Excellent made ahead, keeps for days in fridge.</p>
<p>Now here are the obsessive notes. :)</p>
<p>Rice: my preference is for a shorter grain rice like Goya’s. To cook it, I would put a tbs of oil in a heavy pan with a tight lid over medium heat, add 1 cup rice and turn until warmed and coated with oil–as if you were making risotto–then add 1 2/3 cup simmering chicken broth, stir, bring to a simmer, clap on the lid, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, and cook for 17 minutes. You end up with chewier rice, which I prefer. But you don’t have to do any of that, of course, and even if you do you don’t need to use chicken broth so that it stays vegetarian.</p>
<p>Beans: Obviously you can cook them yourself. You can use pink beans if you prefer. I just say 1 can for convenience. I’ll spare you my thoughts on cooking beans. :)</p>
<p>Corn: I use frozen for this, preferable a tender variety. Since frozen corn is already parboiled, I dump the corn into a large pot of boiling water, wait for it to come back to a rolling boil, drain it and run cold water over it. Don’t overcook it.</p>
<p>Proportions: I almost always double the recipe. The exact proportions of rice, corn, and beans are not important. A cup more of corn or beans is fine. For the dressing, I double everything but the oil, just adding a bit more of that.</p>
<p>I like Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn.</p>
<p>This is my new picnic favorite–
[Mediterranean</a> Pressed Picnic Sandwich Recipe | Vegetarian Times](<a href=“http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/mediterranean-pressed-picnic-sandwich/]Mediterranean”>http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/mediterranean-pressed-picnic-sandwich/)
It makes one long sandwich on a loaf of ciabatta that you slice into servings.</p>
<p>Frozen roasted corn! Sounds delicious. I wish I could eat corn. :(</p>
<p>Thanks for the recipe, Consolation, including the obsessive notes (which usually make the difference between a good dish and <em>yummy</em> dish). Can’t wait to try it.</p>
<p>Stradmom:</p>
<p>Are you looking only for finger foods or are salads okay too? I agree with emeraldkity…I tend to use skewers for many things. You can do an antipasto on skewers that don’t have to be barbequed…ie; if you want a meat picnic, you can thread skewers with meat tortellini (previously cooked & cooled) with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chunks of salami, olives, red peppers, marinate in a little dressing and put in some spices. Also other skewers can be filled with fruit…</p>
<p>What about wraps? Kosher wraps could mean beans, cheese, veggies…</p>
<p>You could make a million different salads…I love using fresh spinach, cukes, strawberries or peaches or both, nuts, dried dates, cranberries, etc.,etc…with a maple syrup type of vinagrette…</p>
<p>Finger sandwiches of tuna or egg salad…but they would spoil quickly if not properly cooled…</p>
<p>Maybe falafel wraps?? Chick pea based salads? I’m sure you can google some more ideas…</p>
<p>My sister keeps kosher and each time we visit her we always have a variety of quiches and sometimes she makes spinach pancakes too…</p>
<p>Trader Joes white bean hummus and edamame hummus are yummy…I use those as a base for wraps with cheese and veggies with dressing, but they do get messy!</p>
<p>Chocchip - great ideas! Salads are great - I think I just want something that won’t be too complicated to carry/eat. Part of it is “picnic envy” as I look at those people who show up with tablecloths and wine glasses (one recently had a candelabra at an outdoor concert!) and clearly gourmet food…</p>
<p>My absolute favorite picnic salad is the Basque Salad from one of the Silver Palate cookbooks. Unfortunately, it contains both shrimp and prosciutto, so it won’t do for you. :)</p>
<p>Chicken Tarragon salad is delicious. (I have a great recipe from Gourmet, also decades old.) I used to make a curried chicken salad with grapes or apples and–IIRC–toasted pecans, which was great. Could try to dig up the recipe.</p>
<p>Quiches work well, particularly if you are going the dairy meal route.</p>
<p>I love all of those foods consolation. I’m going to do a picnic next week because of all of you. :)</p>
<p>^^Stradmom: You must have been at Tanglewood! 
Am I right??</p>
<p>Just now I looked up “Kosher picnic foods” on google and found lots of choices! Next time you go, other people will have picnic envy of your picnic foods! ;)</p>
<p>We do beach picnics and go out before sunset and stay until dark. Big hit is swordfish: cut in chunks and marinate in pesto sauce (I add a little extra EVOO and keep the fish all day in freezer bags turning it over frequently to make sure all the pieces get covered). We put fish on skewers and grill. We have green gazpacho and coleslaw as well as strawberries and cherries. We finish up with Somemores.</p>
<p>Yep, Tanglewood! ;)</p>
<p>So many of these recipes sound terrific and exactly the sort of thing we’d make at home. I can’t imagine how I got a mental block about putting them into the picnic hamper…</p>