Fourth of July
815 recipes found
Buffalo Corn on the Cob
This recipe delivers a hot wings moment minus the meat: Melt some blue cheese into warm Buffalo sauce and slather it on corn, then sprinkle with even more blue cheese crumbles. There are people in this world who think Buffalo sauce pairs better with ranch dressing than blue cheese, and even some people who detest blue cheese. For them, leave out the blue cheese altogether and drizzle ranch (or our recipe for yogurt ranch sauce) over the Buffalo’d cobs.
Corn on the Cob With Lime, Fish Sauce and Peanuts
As this recipe proves, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar is a powerful combination you should commit to memory. Traditionally, those three ingredients form the base of several classic Thai and Vietnamese sauces like nuoc cham and nam pla prik. The mayonnaise here is barely noticeable, but it serves an important role in helping the flavors adhere to the corn. The cilantro is optional so no one will throw a fit.
Cacio e Pepe Corn on the Cob
Cacio e pepe is a traditional Italian pasta made with pecorino, Parmesan, black pepper and a little pasta cooking water. These cobs borrow the flavors of the traditional dish, but the cheese sauce is not thinned with water, so it’s very rich and creamy. Serve the cacio e pepe corn with grilled steak or fish and a green salad with acidic dressing. You’ll be happy.
Grilled Corn on the Cob With Chipotle Mayonnaise
The spicy dip that I serve with grilled corn (as well as with steamed or boiled corn) is sort of like a Mexican aïoli, pungent with garlic, smoky and spicy with chipotle chiles. You can also serve it as a dip with vegetables or chips, or use it as a flavorful spread for sandwiches and panini. The recipe makes more than you’ll need for six ears of corn — if you’re having a crowd for a barbecue, you’ll have enough.
Corn on the Cob With Coconut and Lime
Anyone avoiding dairy might notice that corn on the cob served at cookouts usually comes slathered with butter. This vegan alternative uses coconut oil to add richness, lime juice for a little acid, and finely chopped, toasted coconut chips for added texture. Mixing half of the chips into the oil helps them stick to the cob, which is smart because you’ll want them in every bite. If you can’t find coconut chips, toasted unsweetened coconut flakes will add a nutty flavor, but you won’t get the delightful crunch.
Grilled Corn With Chile Butter
In South Africa, charred ears of corn (called braai mielies) are year-round, smoky-sweet roadside snacks. This version is a side dish for the American summer, when corn and grilling are both in season. The cobs are slicked with butter and sparked with chile heat; in South Africa, they would be served alongside a pile of charcoal-grilled lamb chops or steak or giant prawns, or all of the above. For a more rustic effect (and more effort), use the corn husks as a wrapper instead of aluminum foil. Soak the unshucked cobs in cold water for at least 15 minutes. Peel back the husks but do not detach them from the cobs; remove all the cornsilk. After rubbing on the butter, rearrange the husks around each cob and tie in place with twine.
Whole-Grain Blueberry Buckle
A buckle is an old-fashioned cake that has a crumble topping and fruit that makes the batter buckle, or sink, as it bakes. Or at least that’s what all the recipes I’ve read say is supposed to happen. When I made the cake the blueberries didn’t really cause it to buckle at all, they just formed a layer on top of the cake. This is now a favorite dessert. It’s not traditional at all, as I use whole-wheat flour, and oats and quinoa flour in the topping.
Potato Chip-Chocolate Chip Cookies
A mix of salty potato chips and chocolate chips gives these shortbread cookies a playful, sweet and savory appeal. Adapted from Shauna Sever’s cookbook, “Midwest Made,” these cookies taste best one day after baking, when the flavors have had a chance to meld. They will last for 3 to 4 days stored airtight at room temperature. Bring them to your next bake sale and watch them sell out in a flash. If you don’t have European-style cultured butter on hand, regular unsalted butter will also work.
Millionaire’s Shortbread
Plain shortbread, a combination of the most basic ingredients in the baker’s pantry, is an understated sweet, but millionaire’s shortbread is a spectacle. It’s a flashy cookie, topped with swoops of chocolate and chewy caramel made from condensed milk, butter and Lyle’s Golden Syrup. A British confection made from cane sugar, Lyle’s is found near the honey and maple syrup in any well-stocked supermarket, but if you can't find it, corn syrup makes a fine, if slightly less flavorful, substitute.
Ice Cream Sandwiches
These ice cream sandwiches make a perfect summertime treat. The thin brownie cake layer bakes quickly, which is a bonus on hot days, and the filling need not be homemade. Freezing time can vary so be sure to plan ahead. Give the assembled cake plenty of time before trying to cut and wrap individual sandwiches and make sure the finished sandwiches are well-frozen before serving.
Classic Coconut Cake
One of the beauties of layer cake is that you can do much of the work in advance. The cake layers can be baked one day ahead, wrapped tightly and kept at room temperature. The frosting can be made up to a week ahead, wrapped tightly and refrigerated (bring it back to room temperature before using). You could even assemble and frost the whole glorious thing a day ahead; store it at room temperature, covered loosely with plastic wrap or a cake cover.
Peaches and Cream Pie
This recipe is inspired by the fruit and cream pies at Briermere Farms, in Riverhead, N.Y., a fruit farm and bakery on the North Fork of Long Island. Here, a press-in graham cracker crust is swapped in for the traditional pastry crust, but otherwise the recipe stays true to the signature pie, with a giant mound of fresh sliced peaches concealing a lightly sweetened whipped cream filling beneath. Cream cheese acts as a stabilizer in the whipped cream, allowing you to assemble the crust and filling in advance — but once you add the peaches, the pie is best served within the hour. Perfectionists take note: This pie is a little messy, but that’s part of its charm. If you can’t find ripe, juicy peaches, this recipe is equally delicious made with fresh strawberries or blueberries. The quality and ripeness of the fruit is more important than the variety.
East 62nd Street Lemon Cake
Maida Heatter’s famous lemon cake first appeared in The Times in a 1970s feature highlighting a few of her best-loved cake recipes. This one was actually found by her daughter, Toni Evins Marks, who lived on East 62nd Street at the time. Ms. Marks, who went on to illustrate a number of Ms. Heatter's cookbooks, sent it to her mother. She tinkered with it and renamed it. The cake, which is tender, moist and scented with lemon zest, is brushed with a simple glaze of lemon juice and sugar when it's still warm so it soaks into the cake. It's a timeless dessert that's perfect for practically any celebration. (Note: Some readers have mentioned in the notes below the recipe that "Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts" instructs you to bake this cake at 350 degrees. Our recipe, the one that Craig Claiborne ran in 1970, before Ms. Heatter's book was published, indicates 325. Either will work, but if you bake at 350, start checking for doneness just before the hour mark.)
Berry Coconut No-Bake Cheesecake
In the height of summer, turning on the oven should be considered off limits, but we still need dessert. For that, there's the no-bake cheesecake, which has all the richness of the baked version without any of the baking. Here, Biscoff cookies add a bit of spice, which pairs beautifully with toasted coconut, and we swap the heavy cream for rich, fluffy whipped coconut cream. The topping combines cooked and fresh berries for a wonderful variety of texture and flavor. Just about any varieties will work here, so use what looks best. A combination of blueberries and blackberries or raspberries is quite nice. Be sure to plan ahead with this recipe. The cans of coconut milk need to be chilled at least overnight, and as does the finished cheesecake before it can be sliced.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
This pie is a celebration of perfectly ripe, summertime strawberries. Only two cups of the berries are cooked down into a quick jam, which holds the rest of the fruit together for a delightfully fresh pie. With a crunchy shortbread crust and a cloud of freshly whipped cream, it’s reminiscent of strawberry shortcake — but maybe even better.
Spinach Dip With Garlic, Yogurt and Dill
Lemony, garlic-laden and full of chopped herbs and Greek yogurt, this ultra-creamy spinach dip is a fresher, tangier take on the retro kind made with dehydrated soup mix. It’s best to take the cream cheese out of the fridge at least an hour ahead so it can soften; otherwise you can heat it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. Firm, cold cream cheese won’t mix into the dip as easily. Serve this with any combination of cut-up vegetables, crackers, toast and sturdy chips.
Steamed Clams
The recipe that follows is for a mess of clams, which on the eastern end of Long Island translates as a cool 100 littleneck hard-shell clams. You can certainly cook fewer of them, particularly if all you can find is the larger cherrystone clam, but a reasonable human can eat two dozen clams at a sitting, mopping up the broth with crusty bread. You can add herbs or other aromatics to the steaming liquid (thyme or garlic, say, or cilantro, parsley, tarragon). You can add chorizo or bacon. The point is just to create steam, and to allow the clams to open within it. Eat the clams with the liquid from the interior of their shells, and perhaps some melted butter. A fiery jalapeño brown butter is currently a favorite dip.
Twice-Baked Sour Cherry Pie
Here is an intensely buttery, crispy-crust pie that exudes loads of syrupy cherry nectar when you plunge in the knife. In a quirk of pie-making tradition, open-faced pies, like custards, chocolate cream or pumpkin chiffon, get the best crust — pre-baked shells that are flaky, crisp and golden. But fruit pies, baked with raw dough that is often pale and soggy, get short shrift. For a fruit-pie crust that is crunchy and flaky, with a buttery texture that absorbs the fruit’s juices without turning to mush, the secret is pre-baking the bottom crust, then adding the fruit, covering it with raw dough and baking it again.
Baked Crab Dip With Old Bay and Ritz Crackers
This crab dip is inspired by a recipe called “ritzy dip” from the “Three Rivers Cookbook,” a Pittsburgh community cookbook published in 1973, in which canned crab is mixed with cream cheese, topped with Ritz crackers and baked. Fresh lump crab meat is the star in this updated version, with lemon juice, scallions and plenty of Old Bay seasoning to spice things up. This recipe doubles easily for larger groups, and the whole thing can be assembled and refrigerated up to a day in advance before being baked.
Peanut Chicken Wings
Here's a lively twist on the traditional chicken wing. Just grill or broil the wings until they're cooked through, then toss with a simple sauce of coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Return to the grill or oven until they're crisp. You might never go back to Buffalo.
Mashed Potato Salad With Scallions and Herbs
Creamier than a classic potato salad, and chunkier and zestier than regular mashed potatoes, this hybrid dish can be served warm or at room temperature, when its texture is at its softest and best. (Never serve this cold; no one likes cold mashed potatoes.) The key to getting the right texture is to cook the potatoes a little more than you would for potato salad, but not so much that they completely fall apart. You are looking for chunks of potatoes coated in a fluffy layer of highly seasoned mashed potatoes. Potato salads tend to absorb their seasonings as they sit, so for the most flavorful dish, be prepared to add more salt, lemon juice and olive oil to taste just before serving.
Grilled Slaw With Ginger and Sesame
Napa makes an excellent cabbage for grilling. Its elongated shape provides greater surface area to char — and thus smoke — over a hot fire than a round cabbage. Its leaves are less tightly packed than conventional cabbage, allowing for deep penetration of the smoke flavor. Also known as Chinese cabbage, napa cabbage is native to China and pairs well with Asian seasonings, such as sesame oil, rice vinegar and ginger. To notch up the heat, add a spoonful of Asian chile paste.
Homemade Green Bean Casserole
If you think you don’t like green bean casserole, withhold judgment until you’ve tried this entirely from-scratch version. It has all the classic elements of the Thanksgiving favorite, but its base is a mushroom gravy amped up with red-wine vinegar, red-pepper flakes and fresh thyme rather than a can of soup. If you don’t want to fry the onions yourself (we understand), you can always substitute 1 1/2 cups store-bought fried onions or even crispier fried shallots.
