Fourth of July
815 recipes found
Buttermilk Potato Salad With Preserved Lemon
Preserved lemons are lemons that have been packed in salt and spices and allowed to ferment in their own juices. The resulting fruit softens and becomes even tangier with a satisfying salty pucker. You can rinse them before chopping and adding them to soups, stews and dressings, or you can use them as is. Here they add an unexpected zing to a simple buttermilk-based potato salad. Look for them in the international aisle at the supermarket or make your own.
S’mores Tart
This stunning dessert takes the elements of s’mores – marshmallows, graham crackers and melty chocolate – and recombines them in an elegant way. A billowing meringue singed with a blowtorch replaces the toasted marshmallows, a homemade graham cracker crust replaces the cookies and a soft, bittersweet ganache stands in for the usual melted chocolate bar. It does take time and effort, but you can do it over the course of a couple of days. The spectacular results are well worth it.
Oven S’mores
These easy, everyday s’mores are made in your broiler, no bonfire required. Ready in five minutes, they’re perfect for a speedy, chocolatey dessert. Feel free to swap out different cookies for the graham crackers. Ginger snaps, shortbread, chocolate wafer cookies all work equally well, as do salty crackers like Ritz and Saltines.
Slow-Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken
This hands-off path to pulled chicken results in a juicy, saucy tangle of meat for a crowd. The combination of boneless chicken thighs and breasts creates a mix of feathery and hearty shreds, while cooking the meat slowly in barbecue sauce ensures it won’t dry out. To emulate some of the smoke and savoriness created by cooking meat over smoldering coals, chipotle chiles in adobo, Worcestershire sauce and onion powder are also added. Serve the pulled chicken between buns with pickles and slaw, or make a barbecue chicken pizza; leftovers keep well for a few days in the fridge.
Creamy Coconut-Lemon Pie
This creamy, dreamy lemon pie is packed with lots of bright zesty lemon flavor and coconut four ways. The classic graham cracker crust is enhanced with a handful of toasted coconut, the filling is rich with coconut milk and the whipped coconut cream topping is garnished with more crunchy, toasted coconut. This pie is a dinner party dream: You can make it up to two days in advance and it just gets better sitting in the fridge. Make sure to take the time to thoroughly chill the coconut cream for the whipped topping: Put the can in the fridge the night before, and hold off on spreading it on until you are ready to serve. If the cream is not cold enough, it won’t hold its shape when whipped. Save any liquid from the coconut cream for a smoothie.
Coleslaw Dressing
Toss this light and tangy dressing with your favorite combination of shredded raw vegetables to build the coleslaw of your dreams. Start with cabbage as a base, then add some combination of carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, onion, scallions, baby bok choy and raw corn kernels for a lively mix. Finish with a handful of chopped fresh green herbs if you have any hanging around your crisper.
Tomatoes Vinaigrette
Possibly too easy to even be called a salad, this satisfying summer side dresses thin slices of tomatoes with a vinaigrette of wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic and dried oregano. Salting the tomatoes brings out the best of both peak season and cold weather fruit, encouraging their sweet juices to leak onto the plate and mix with the dressing. Serve with grilled bread to sop up what’s left behind. This dish is greater than the sum of its parts.
Beeritas
A can of limeade concentrate combined with equal parts lager and tequila, this falls into the don’t-knock-it-until-you’ve-tried-it category. The beerita, a margarita-like drink with beer, is a refreshing cocktail that’s incredibly easy to assemble, thanks to the can of limeade. After the concentrate is emptied into a pitcher, simply fill the 12-ounce container with tequila, then again with water and finally, pour in a standard-size beer. (To bring home the warm, orange flavor associated with a margarita, mix in a little triple sec.) The end result is a batched cocktail enough for eight, which makes it ideal for a summertime cookout or block party.
Grilled Hot Dogs
A crisp, snappy, juicy hot dog isn’t necessarily difficult to achieve, but two key steps ensure that yours won’t end up wrinkly, burnt or dry. First, let the flame mellow to a moderate heat, which will prevent bursting and provide ample time to pick up smoke from the grill. Second, arrange the hot dogs parallel to the grates. That way, the rods act like a sling, exposing more of the hot dogs for more browning and keeping them from rolling around. With a well-cooked hot dog, toppings can be as minimal or imaginative as you’d like. (For natural-casing hot dogs, see Tip.)
Oven-Roasted Corn on the Cob
Next time you’re thinking of boiling water for corn on the cob, consider this flavorful oven method instead. Ears of corn are brushed with a garlicky herb butter, then wrapped in foil and roasted until tender and just starting to brown. The butter flavors the corn as it roasts, and a spoonful spread on each ear just before serving delivers a little extra richness. For corn on the cob with a kick, consider adding a pinch of chili powder or ground cayenne to the butter mixture.
Tomato Salad
The minimal ingredients in this salad allow tomatoes to shine through. Besides our star, salt is the most important element because it draws out the juices to leave the tomato with more concentrated flavor. The resulting pink-hued juices mingle with the shallot, olive oil and lemon juice to create a dressing that is so good, it is reason enough to make this salad. Use up every drop by dipping into it with grilled bread, or pour it over braised beans, grilled fish or roast chicken. While tomato salads are often dressed with vinegar, lemon juice is more gentle, working behind the scenes to help tomatoes taste like their brightest selves.
Dill Pickle Tzatziki
This punchy, crunchy and creamy sauce combines dill pickles and tzatziki for an easy dip that goes with everything from potato and pita chips to crab cakes and kuku. Traditionally, making tzatziki starts with draining the water from grated cucumber, but that’s not necessary here because the pickles are a two-in-one ingredient, adding crunch and tanginess. (While this might sound like a novel trick, Greek chef Diane Kochilas adds brininess to her tzatziki with cornichons and capers.) Keep the dip on-hand covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Honey Mustard Potato Salad
There exist entire worlds between a good potato salad and a bad one. The good ones have good potatoes that have been prioritized and not just boiled to death: perfectly steamed, not too wet on the inside or outside. This clever, lazy method — boiling the potatoes for half their cook time, draining them, then using the residual heat of the pot to steam the spuds until tender, like one does with, say, sushi rice — ensures perfectly creamy, pillowy potatoes, whose fluffy edges are excellent at soaking up a curried dressing, dyed golden with mustard, lightly inspired by those delicious honey-mustard pretzel pieces from the snack aisle. If your curry powder isn’t hot enough for you, then add a dash of cayenne pepper or your favorite fresh chile, finely chopped. Some like it sweet; if that’s you, add a pinch of sugar or another dribble of honey; taste and adjust as you go.
Angel Hair Pasta Salad
Light, bouncy angel hair makes for a surprisingly stellar pasta salad. Dressed in a simple mayonnaise and vinegar dressing, a rainbow confetti of raw vegetables shines in this chill, endlessly adaptable recipe. Salting the vegetables in advance, allowing them to sweat their excess moisture and then patting them dry, leads to crunchier, longer-lasting results. This salad keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, covered; as it sits, the vegetables give off their flavor and fragrance to the blank-canvas pasta. Simply stir before serving to redistribute any dressing that has collected on the bottom of the bowl.
Berries and Cream Sheet Cake
Summer is time for simple desserts that can adapt to what is fresh and in season, and this one fits the bill. This moist sour cream cake is deeply flavored with vanilla and a bit of almond extract, and baked to the perfect texture that can stand up to a generous topping of berries and cream. The whipped cream topping is accentuated with a bit of cream cheese, which adds tang and also body, keeping the cream nice and billowy even if it sits for a little while. Top the cake with whatever berries look best at the market and get creative with the design. You can arrange the fruit in concentric circles, waves or totally randomly, and the results will be stunning.
Dijonnaise Grilled Chicken Breasts
The grilled chicken we dream of — juicy meat, bronzed crust, a hint of smoke — can be a reality when slathered with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard before cooking. While you won’t necessarily taste the condiments, they work in tandem to ensure that the boneless chicken has an easier time on the grill: The mayonnaise insulates and prevents sticking, and the mustard tenderizes and caramelizes. Serve with a spoonful of the Dijonnaise any way you like simply grilled chicken: atop a Caesar salad, alongside grilled corn or tucked into a sandwich with pickles, shredded lettuce and the Dijonnaise.
Pimento-Stuffed Eggs
You may know these as “deviled” eggs, but since they are often served at church functions, they’re sometimes referred to instead as “stuffed.” Here, they’re filled with a combination of their cooked yolks and some favorite ingredients in Louisiana cookery — from pimento peppers to paprika to cayenne — which add a pinch of heat to these savory bites. The relish adds just enough sweetness to balance out the pungent flavor from the Dijon mustard. Be sure to remove the shells from the eggs as soon as they are cool enough to handle so the peeling will be easier. The stuffed eggs can be prepared up to three days in advance, but they are best the day they’re made.
Strawberry Pretzel Bars
Old-fashioned strawberry pretzel salad, topped with gelatin, gets a modern makeover. Here, pretzels are tossed with graham cracker crumbs, then topped with a light cream-cheese mixture and finished off with strawberry jam and fresh strawberries, for a delicate sweetness. Cut the bars into bite-size pieces or bigger slabs. Either way, this old-new dish is sure to be a favorite.
Green Bean Salad With Dill Pickles And Feta
Green beans, feta and dill are old friends, but using dill pickles instead of dill contributes acid, crunch and verve to the classic combination. For maximum flavor, use pickles that are brined with fresh dill or dill seeds, and chill the salad for at least 30 minutes for refreshing, snappy bites. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 days to dole out alongside roast chicken or hot dogs, or on top of salad greens or grain bowls.
Death by Chocolate
Death by Chocolate, which by name suggests that it’s so rich and decadent that it may cause one to simply expire, commonly takes the shape of a trifle dessert. It consists of layers of crumbled brownies or chocolate cake, chocolate pudding and whipped cream, plus a fourth layer that is either crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies or chopped up chocolate toffee bars. The assembled trifle is placed in the fridge to rest in peace until served cold. While often made with boxed cake, pudding mixes and Cool Whip, this recipe contains easy homemade versions of all three.
Grilled Asparagus
Charred, sweet, crisp and tender, grilled asparagus is a goes-with-everything side dish. The only trick, really, is to buy spears that are at least 1/2-inch thick at the base to ensure they can grill long enough to blister and caramelize without completely turning to mush. While best hot off the grill — perhaps alongside grilled chicken, shrimp or cheese — you can refrigerate grilled asparagus for up to four days; chop the spears up and use them to bolster grain or green salads.
Hard Lemonade
This recipe is far removed from the spiked six packs of yore. The cocktail’s hard lemon base is a combination of fresh lemon juice, vodka or limoncello, simple syrup and a pinch of flaky sea salt. The salt serves to enhance, balance and brighten, while a final topping of bubbly soda water lengthens and elevates. When choosing between vodka or limoncello, follow your palate. Vodka offers a more straightforward flavor. The limoncello variation is sweeter — though nothing approaching cloying — and a bit more complex.
Lemon Bars With Pecan Crust
Lemon bars, with their buttery shortbread crust and their tart-as-you-like curd, have become one of the great American desserts ubiquitous to the 20th century cookery canon. These have a little twist with a rich pecan short crust, making them just a bit more well-rounded, the toasty nuttiness serving as a counterbalance to the tart lemon zing. While there are some official notations of its origins in print — most notably in the Chicago Tribune in 1962 — it remains one of those desserts that has seemingly lived in the hearts of modern Americans for as long as we can remember. As a friendly harbinger of spring and a favorite for every summertime cookout or picnic or backyard hang, these bright bites are a great option to make ahead; chilling them overnight makes them easy to cut and sugar right before you plan to serve or carry them to your festivities. For all these reasons and more, lemon bars will likely keep their rightful place as a great American standard for many years to come.
Upside-Down Peach Cobbler
This juicy pastry crosses a peach cobbler with a caramel-coated apple tarte Tatin. To make it, the peaches are caramelized with sugar in a skillet just like apples are in a classic tarte Tatin. But then, instead of being covered with pie dough or puff pastry, the fruit is topped with fluffy biscuit dough. While baking, the biscuits rise and brown, creating a golden, tender pillow on which the jammy fruit lands when it’s all unmolded. The whole thing is a bit more cakey in texture than the usual crisp-crusted Tatin, with the allure of fresh ripe peaches.