For a picnic at the beach, toss up a fresh Salade Niçoise and add rice pudding squares

School is out and a trip to the beach is in order. It is always worth it to play in the sand, building castles or carving out made up sea creatures that the waves can take to the water.

With a nice size cooler you can carry ice, drinks, and food that is ready or almost ready to serve. A salade Niçoise is always a good choice. Even in Nice it is mostly served with good, canned tuna that has been packed in olive oil, so no need to prepare fresh tuna.

You may have to cook green beans or asparagus or whatever looks good before you pack the ingredients. Just make sure that the vegetables are very fresh and in season. Olives are traditional, but like everything else, they are optional.

It's the season for corn and tomatoes. A maque choux salad is not traditional but it is easy to carry, delicious, and fun. Instead of adding cream, the dressing is made of mayonnaise base. It’s creamy, but tastes good cool or cold.

The rice pudding makes an easy to eat dessert at a picnic. Make sure to use Arborio rice — the kind used to make risotto — so that the rice is nice and sticky and makes a good square.

Pack a large plastic platter or large plastic or light wooden bowl for the salade Niçoise. I would preportion the maque choux salad into 4- or 8-ounce jars with lids. Pack the dressing in another jar and let everyone dress their own salad. You can individually wrap the rice squares in parchment paper — they’ll be sticky, but easy to carry and eat out of the paper wrapper.

A crisp cold white wine or a beer would work well for the adults at the picnic. And for the kids, a thermos full of lemonade would be delicious. 

Salade Niçoise

Serves 6. Your vegetable or fruit can be anything fresh: for example, ½ pound of cooked green beans or asparagus; or 2 cups steamed broccoli florets.

2 large heads butter lettuce, washed and torn into salad sized pieces

Vegetable, such as green beans, asparagus or broccoli

½ pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 small cucumber, sliced

1 cup Niçoise olives or other black olives

1 pound steamed new potatoes, cut into quarters

6 peeled hard boiled eggs, cut in half

3 cans albacore tuna packed in olive oil, drained

6 or 8 ounce jar, marinated artichoke hearts, drained

DRESSING

1 cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a pint jar with a lid to be carried to the picnic site.

TO MAKE THE SALAD

1. Place ingredients into separate plastic bags to be combined at the picnic site. The ingredients should be kept cold.

2. In Nice this salad is not composed or only loosely composed, so at the picnic site, right before you will be eating, place the first 6 ingredients into the large bowl. Shake the dressing. Dress with about ¾ of the dressing. Toss.

3. Arrange the hard-boiled eggs, the tuna, and the marinated artichoke hearts on the top of the salad. Drizzle with the rest of the dressing and serve.

Maque Choux Salad

Makes 6 servings.

Kernels from 6 ears of steamed corn

2 red bell peppers, chopped

1 bunch scallions, chopped (green and white parts)

1 large tomato, chopped finely

1. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl. Toss.

2. Divide the salad into 6 jars. Place any leftovers into a large jar in case anyone wants seconds.

DRESSING

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Zest of one lemon

1. Place all of the ingredients into a quart jar. Shake well before serving. Allow each person to spoon a bit of dressing on their own salad. They can toss or stir their individual jars before eating.

Rice Pudding Squares

Be sure to use Arborio rice, the kind we use for risotto. Makes 6 servings.

Butter an 8x8 pan and set aside.

1 cup Arborio rice

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whole milk

¼ teaspoon salt

1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan on low heat. Stir thoroughly. Continue stirring as the rice cooks. Be aware that it scorches easily if you forget it on the stove.

2. After about 30 minutes, it will be very viscous. Remove from heat. Allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour into the prepared pan and spread it evenly in the pan.

3. Place in the refrigerator overnight. The day of the picnic cut into squares, remove with a spatula, and wrap each square in parchment paper. Keep in the refrigerator until you leave for the picnic. Place the wrapped squares into a plastic bag to keep them away from melting ice. Serve each person a wrapped parcel to be eaten from the parchment package.

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