Fourth of July
815 recipes found
Grilled or Oven-Roasted Santa Maria Tri-Tip
You might need to ask your butcher (assuming you have one) or even a store meat manager to order in a tri-tip roast. Two pounds is a good size, but if you come across a larger one, by all means grab it as the extra meat makes amazing sandwiches. The trick is to carve the tri-tip against the grain, which can change directions in this cut. So before you rub it and roast it, take a look at the raw meat and see which direction the long strands of muscle fiber are running on each part of the roast. After the roast has been cooked, and it has rested for 15 minutes or so, slice the roast in two at the place where the fibers change direction. Carve each piece separately.
BBQ Chicken
Barbecued chicken isn’t, really: It’s grilled rather than smoke-roasted at low temperature. But it requires a similar attention to technique. You’ll want to move the pieces around on the grill to keep them from burning, and flip them often as well. Cooking barbecued chicken benefits from a basting technique used by the chef and outdoor cooking maven Adam Perry Lang, who thins out his sauce with water, then paints it onto the meat he’s cooking coat after coat, allowing it to reduce and intensify rather than seize up and burn.
Smoked Cabbage Slaw With Creamy Horseradish
This slaw acquires its smoke flavor not through grilling the greens, but by cold smoking. The advantage is that you flavor the leaves with smoke without cooking them, so the cabbage remains audibly crisp. Cold smoking can be done on a grill or in a smoker, or even in your kitchen using a stove-top smoker or hand-held smoker. The secret is to smoke the shredded cabbage over a pan of ice to keep it from cooking. Horseradish and mustard fire up the traditional creamy mayonnaise dressing.
Corn on the Cob With Old Bay and Lemon
If you’ve had the pleasure of eating your way through a bucket of Maryland blue crabs poured out onto newspaper, you’ve probably had Old Bay seasoning. It’s a blend of celery salt, black pepper, crushed red-pepper flakes and paprika, and any member of its fiercely loyal Mid-Atlantic fan base will tell you that it should be present at any proper crab or shrimp boil. In this recipe, you get lots of that seaside flavor without having to source fresh blue crab.
Lemon-Tahini Slaw
This vegan recipe fulfills the need for a creamy slaw that can sit out in the sun. Instead of dairy and raw egg yolks, this slaw is slicked with tahini and mustard. Capers, lemon zest and scallions are smashed into a coarse paste, then massaged into the cabbage to lend umami and a salty punch. Snap peas and radishes add crunch, but feel free to swap in celery, jicama, fennel or other vegetables. This is a decidedly savory slaw; if you want some sweetness, add honey to the dressing, to taste. The slaw can sit out — poolside, deskside, at a picnic — for up to 3 hours, and it keeps for 3 days in the fridge.
Tomato and Zucchini Casserole With Crisp Cheddar Topping
This casserole is a modern twist on an old favorite, the tomato-zucchini bake. But instead of a Parmesan and bread-crumb topping, this one is covered in a savory oat and Cheddar crumble that crisps and browns in the oven. Dollops of garlicky, herbed ricotta make the casserole wonderfully rich and creamy, while olives liven it up with their salty tang. This is equally good warm or at room temperature, preferably served within four hours of baking so the topping stays crunchy. Or you could make it the night before and reheat it in a 375-degree oven until bubbling. It makes an excellent side dish or meatless main course.
Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie
This vegan pie pairs a thick, creamy, chile- and cinnamon-laced pudding from Mark Bittman with a graham cracker crust adapted from the cookbook "Vegan Pie in the Sky." The pudding, whose flavors recall Mexican hot chocolate, can also stand alone. It's made with silken tofu, and it comes together in 10 minutes in the blender, which whips in air for a mousse-like texture. The chocolate is of the utmost importance here; its flavor will be the one that dominates, so be sure to buy the highest quality you can. Top with shaved chocolate if you'd like.
Seven-Layer Dip
For this recipe, the traditional 7-layer dip has been revisited so that each layer is good enough to eat on its own, but isn’t so much effort that the whole thing can’t be finished in 20 minutes. The order of the layers offers some delightful moments, like where the cheese melts into the warm refried beans or where the cool sour cream meets the fiery salsa. Cilantro and scallions serve as a refreshing counterpoint, and Fritos lend added crunch. No need to dig out your trifle bowl: A platter with a lip is preferred here for easier scooping.
Sausage Balls
These classic Southern hors d’oeuvres, made with only three ingredients, taste just as good with beer as they do with bourbon. And they come together in about 20 minutes from start to finish.
Sour Cream and Onion Dip
Take plenty of time to properly caramelize a mixture of onions and shallots and you’ll be greatly rewarded with a depth of flavor that you would never get from a powdered packet. Resist the urge to cook them at a higher temperature in order to rush the process – they’ll burn before they brown and soften. The addition of Greek yogurt might seem unusual, but it provides a lightness and tang that sour cream can’t deliver by itself.
Cheddar-Stuffed Turkey Burger With Avocado
The secret to keeping lean turkey juicy as a burger? Adding fat. The burgers in this recipe, stuffed with cheese and a bit of butter, are moist, flavorful and, best of all, hold together and flip easily. These are best cooked on a flat-top griddle, burger-joint style, or you can use a large, wide skillet (like cast-iron) if that’s what you have. Both give the outside of these burgers an irresistible sear that keeps the juice and flavor inside the burger, not dripping through grill grates. Finally, Hawaiian buns are a must. Their softness and subtle sweetness give these burgers a universal appeal.
S’mores Blondies
These messy-in-a-good-way blondies capture the essence of s’mores — toasted marshmallows, gooey chocolate, malty graham cracker flavor — in a home oven. The blondie base replaces some of the flour with graham cracker crumbs, and is studded with large chunks of chocolate and marshmallow. Use chopped bar chocolate rather than chocolate chips, which contain stabilizers and don’t fully melt (though substituting chips will still result in a delicious blondie). As the blondies finish baking, they’re topped with a layer of marshmallows and another round of chocolate; messy and delicious, just like the real thing.
Key Lime Pie Bars With Vanilla Wafer Crust
Some say that a Key lime’s juice is slightly more floral than that of its more well-known cousin, the Persian lime, the kind you can find in every supermarket and corner deli. Key limes are hard to find, though, so use bottled Key lime juice or conventional lime juice in this easy recipe that's great for a crowd.
Florida Lime Pie
Jane Nickerson was the food editor of The New York Times from 1942 until 1957, when she moved with her family to Lakeland, Fla. There, she eventually became food editor of The Ledger, in Lakeland, then owned by The Times. Her successor in New York was Craig Claiborne, whose star eclipsed hers for, among other things, systemic reasons we wrestle with still. But Ms. Nickerson was a hugely influential force in American home cooking, introducing ingredients and recipes from chefs and home cooks to a nation that met her first on a wartime footing and grew to find itself on a prosperous one. In Florida, she embraced local ingredients and foodways, and in 1973 published “Jane Nickerson’s Florida Cookbook,” an invaluable guide to the state’s appetizing abundance. Her lime pie is a little richer than the more well-known Key lime pie. I like that about it.
Strawberry Shortbread and Cream
In this summery dessert, golden-edged cookies are paired with syrupy strawberries and fluffy whipped cream for a result that’s a bit like strawberry shortcake, but crunchier and a lot more buttery. These cookies have a little more sugar than most shortbread recipes, so they’re especially crisp, but since they are on the sweet side, use a light hand when adding sugar to the berries. You just need enough to get the juices flowing. A few pinches should do it. And if you use cultured butter, the cookies will be even richer.
Strawberry Hibiscus Limeade
Red drinks are central to Juneteenth celebrations, as the color red represents the blood shed by enslaved people. Strawberry soda is commonly served, but this punch builds on that tradition, adding hibiscus, lime juice and mint to a strawberry base. It’s a great way to use up slightly overripe strawberries. (It’s better to use overripe berries than underripe ones, since underripe berries can have bitter notes.) The pineapple juice ice cubes are a little extra effort, but they melt right into the drink, changing its flavor as you drink it. At first, it’s good. Over time, it’s incredible.
Fried Chicken Biscuits With Hot Honey Butter
This recipe for chicken biscuits could be a weeknight dinner with a side of greens, but it's made to travel, and perfectly suited for a picnic. The biscuit dough, adapted from Sam Sifton's all-purpose biscuit recipe, is lightly kneaded here, so it's not too tender to work in a sandwich. The chicken tenders, inspired by Masaharu Morimoto's katsu in the cookbook "Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking," are pounded and coated in panko for plenty of crunch. Prepare both components the day you want to eat them, giving yourself at least one extra hour for everything to cool before you assemble, so the sandwich stays crisp. You can also cook well in advance, and assemble the sandwiches the next day. Either way, cooling the chicken completely, on a wire rack, is crucial. If you prefer breast meat over thigh, feel free to swap it in.
Blueberry Cornmeal Shortbread Tart
Part tart, part crumble, this blueberry shortbread is an excellent way to use up as many blueberries as you can get your hands on. The exposed surface allows the fruit to cook down, thickening and getting jammy with just a little bit of flour to help it along. It’s ideal for baking, slicing and bringing to any and all outdoor gatherings, or serving at home with a ridiculous amount of vanilla ice cream.
Smashed Pickle Salad
Many cucumber salads are dressed with some combination of salt, acidity (such as vinegar or lemon juice) and something tangy and creamy. (Sour cream is commonly used in Germany, Scandinavia and the Midwest; buttermilk in the South; and yogurt in the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia and South Asia.) This recipe skips the first step of salting by instead substituting pickles — cucumbers fermented in salt and vinegar — in place of raw cucumbers. They’re still crunchy, but also pack a fierce punch. Eat this salad alongside something rich, like grilled meats or schnitzel, or in a sandwich with deli meats, tinned fish or boiled eggs. While most pickles work, half-sour pickles are especially refreshing. (Avoid bread and butter pickles, which are too sweet.) Smashing the pickles opens them up to absorb dressing, and the act of doing so is just plain fun.
Broccoli Salad
It is easy to understand why broccoli salad is a mainstay of potluck dinners and community gatherings. Not only is it a crowd-pleaser, but also raw broccoli is a clever make-ahead ingredient because, even when coated in dressing, it maintains its hardy texture and crunch over time. (This Southern-inspired recipe can be made up to 24 hours ahead, then stored in the fridge.) While most traditional Southern broccoli salads feature a creamy mayonnaise dressing and are finished with bacon bits and grated cheese, this vegan riff offers a punchy vinegar mixture that serves as a quick pickling liquid for the onions and raisins before it’s used as the final dressing. If you are making this salad in advance, leave the toasted almonds out until you are ready to eat.
Strawberry Pretzel Pie
This is a wonderful but simple summer pie inspired by strawberry pretzel salad, a popular Southern dessert. The classic recipe consists of a crumbled pretzel crust, a whipped cream cheese and Cool Whip filling, and a top layer of strawberry Jell-O. In this fresher adaptation, crushed pretzels form the foundation of an easy shortbread crust, followed by a fluffy cream filling and a pile of fresh strawberries, omitting the use of gelatin. If you’re making this pie in advance — especially with juicy, height-of-season berries — complete Steps 1 to 3, then cloak the filled crust with plastic wrap and chill up to 24 hours. Just before serving, toss the berries in sugar and pile them on top.
Mojito
You can drink a mint mojito without really thinking about it, and that's a pretty good recommendation for a summer cocktail. This version is straightforward and simply perfect for a hot day. Muddle a handful of fresh mint leaves and some lime juice in the bottom of a glass. Then add rum, sugar, ice and a bit of club soda. Shake and serve with other Cuban dishes. The mojito originated in Cuba as a farmers' drink in the late 19th century as Cuba's rum industry modernized, making the mint mojito as common as beer. Only the rich drank it with ice and soda.
Six-Foot Meatless Italian Hero
This sandwich serves many dainty folks or fewer rugged types. Preorder the bread from an Italian bakery or deli counter, and build first, season last. Success here is in achieving a perfect filling-to-bread ratio, a generousness with the seasonings, and the ability to close the sandwich around the filling without finding it woefully over- or under-stuffed when it’s time to slice. It’s a huge help to have on hand 8-inch wooden skewers, disposable gloves, a good serrated knife and an egg-slicer gadget. The assembly instructions here are meant to be helpful but not prescriptive, as I trust that everybody knows how to build a sandwich to their own liking.
Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bars
Like turtle bars with a twist, these squares are gooey, crunchy and salty in all the right places. If you can, use chopped bar chocolate as called for in the recipe. If you use chocolate chips, they will seize, and the chocolate layer will look uneven and a little chalky. That said, beauty is only skin deep, and these bars taste great either way, so if chips are all you can find, bake away.