Labour Day Weekend is the last great weekend of summer in our part of the world and blessed by almost perfect weather, a large and pretty backyard and a conveniently dated family birthday, Dishing in the Kitchen hosted a ‘vintage garden picnic’ to celebrate all of the above-mentioned.
To make the perfect backyard picnic, select the ingredients with care. A sunny day is key, so be sure to pay homage to the weather gods.
Special Ingredients:
- 1 sunny and warm (but not too hot) day
- 1 large pavillion tent (just in case the gods don’t cooperate)
- Several yards of cheery bunting
- 25 dear friends and family members
- 4 willing pie-makers
- 1 chocolate birthday cake
- 6 bottles of champagne, 6 bottles of lemonade, 2 jugs of iced tea
- Assorted wine and beer
- 1 urn of hot, fresh coffee
- Mismatched china, linen napkins, borrowed forks
Scatter lawn chairs, sunscreen, straw hats and bug spray about the place. Create a simple menu and ask close friends and family members to bring salads and desserts. Assign a festive appetizer to one such person. Gently mix friends, wine, champagne and pies together.
Serve with joy before the sun goes down.
Our Menu:
- Thai Asian Spring Rolls
- Poached Salmon w/ choice of Salsa Verde or Garlic Dill Sauce
- Oven-Fried Chicken (Gluten-Free)
- Bean Salads
- Potato Salads
- Fruit Salad
- Pickles
- Dessert Buffet: Dutch Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie, GF Apple Pie, Coolio Cupcakes, Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing, fresh watermelon.
The Kitchen is always on the look-out for ways to make food that is friendly for all kinds of diets. For the birthday picnic, we created two gluten-free dishes – a gluten-free apple pie as a dessert option and the Oven-Fried Chicken as a main. Both were big hits. Here is the *recipe/method for the GF Oven-Fried Chicken. It was, as the saying goes, “finger-licken’ good”.
Method:
- Buttermilk: enough to cover chicken for an overnight soak.
- Something for a spicy kick: cayenne, tabasco, Tony’s Cajun seasoning (this is what I used)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose Gluten-Free flour (I use Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/3 c tapioca flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp pepper
- 3 tsp dry mustard
- 30 legs, thighs or breasts of chickens
To make a smaller batch:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose GF flour
- 1/4 c rice flour
- 1/4 c tapioca flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1-1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 8 legs, thighs or breasts of chickens
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