With the weather warming up, it’s time to get into picnic mode, which basically means taking every available opportunity to eat outdoors. Somehow, everything always tastes better consumed in the open air on a fine day. For this menu, suitable for lunch or dinner, everything can be prepared well in advance. Best of all, it’s all quite easy to transport.
To start, I’ve prepared a salad where pickled beets and eggs star. Well-seasoned pickled vegetables are extremely popular in Greece and Turkey, and my recipe incorporates hints from Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. It’s also dead simple.
You make a well-spiced, sweet-sour brine and simmer beets in it till they’re tender. Peeled hard-boiled eggs pickle in the same ruby-red brine. They go in for a bath and emerge with a colorful, pink-rimmed exterior. Both ingredients benefit from a night or two in the fridge, so make them whenever you have a chance in the days before the picnic. They’ll keep a week or more and only improve. I like to serve them split open on a crisp lettuce leaf with spears of fresh cucumber.
Then, for a portable main course, think savory pastry, specifically a phyllo-wrapped pie. Like Greek spanakopita, this recipe features a hearty green filling; but rather than spinach, it’s chard, accompanied by softened leeks, creamy ricotta, salty feta and heaps of chopped dill. It’s delicious warm or at room temperature, and while you could bake it in a rectangular pan, it’s far more impressive in a round.
Phyllo is a forgiving medium. If you tear a sheet by mistake, it’s easy to patch together, and no one will be the wiser. And, as long as your ingredients are not too wet, you’ll have a crisp, flaky, golden result. If you wish, you can assemble the pie a day in advance unbaked, then pop it in the oven a few hours before serving.
These easy truffles can be finished with a roll in coconut, a dusting of cocoa or both.Credit…David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.
A nutty, not-too-sweet take on truffles ends this meal. It’s based on a friend’s recipe for chocolate-dipped Greek truffles, but with some changes: I wanted to simplify the process and put the emphasis on walnuts, adding walnut oil and orange liqueur for richness. To finish, they may be rolled in coconut, dusted with cocoa, or both.
For this picnic, if you brought a chilled bottle of wine to accompany the meal, go one step further, and bring a Thermos of hot coffee or tea to go with dessert.
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