Elizabeth Park, Hartford, CT
Memorial Day is for remembering, and I think a lot of us also take the opportunity to connect with friends and family. We were happy to get together with friends at a wonderful old park for a picnic! We each brought a little something to nibble. No cooking, just sit back, relax and nosh a bit.
My contribution was two salads, lemon-ginger kombucha and prosecco. Once paired with the chicken satay with peanut sauce and assorted nuts, olives, and cheese that my friend brought, we were quite happy to sit and soak in a beautiful day!
The Grape and Feta Salad was wonderful! It is such an unexpected combination! I was a little afraid it wouldn’t be great, so I made a small dish of it first and found it was perfect. So I played with the proportions and came up with this:
Grape and Feta Salad
- 1/2 lb seedless red grapes, halved
- 4 oz feta cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1/4 c chopped mint leaves
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Mix these all together and serve!
My other salad is more traditional Panzanella Salad. This is so easy and wonderful. Keep it in mind when you have that awesome loaf of “bread that you just had to get because the smell of the bakery was too much to pass up even though you know you can’t eat it that fast” drying out on the counter.
Panzanella Salad
- cube bread – if it’s not stale, toast it to dry but not brown
stale bread cubes
- chopped tomatoes
- chopped cucumber
- chopped red onion
- basil torn into small pieces
tomatoes, cucumber, onion and bread cubes
toss these with a dressing of:
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp capers
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Panzanella
I thought this looked like a festive picnic!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend too and took some time out to appreciate your friends and family.
A Foodie Family 