Tonight, I am trialing the idea of a cold supper for our change-up with Sunday meals. We've gone to the Scandinavian town near us for the day. So I've made an easy meal to be eaten cold. Here's the menu:
- Hardboiled eggs
- Sliced cheddar cheese
- Garlic toast
- Vegetable slaw (shredded watermelon rind, shredded carrots, chopped cabbage, minced onion, dressing pre-mixed but I won't pour it on until just before the meal)
- Marinated cold roasted vegetables (a mixture of zucchini, patty pan squash, green beans, yellow pepper, and onion, roasted and then chilled in a garlicky vinaigrette.
- Watermelon slices
I prepared everything yesterday morning before lunch, using what was ready for harvest in the garden and what we had in surplus in the kitchen. It's now ready and waiting for us in the fridge. The only part not completely ready to serve is the garlic toast. However, the thick slices of bread are already spread with garlic butter and are ready to pop under the broiler when we walk in the door.
A good dinner shouldn't always mean more work for mom. I can't really wave a wand and conjure up a nice meal for my family. But I can spend an hour the morning before and have a nice meal waiting for my family at the end of a fun day out.
Do you ever serve cold suppers? What would you put on a cold plate that was standing in for the entire meal? I'll be making cold suppers for most Sundays beginning in September. Do you have any suggestions to mix things up a bit?
Have a great weekend, friends!
The classic cold plate is fried chicken. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteI must admit I have never had cold, truly fried chicken. Granted, I've only had real fried chicken a couple dozen times in my entire life, so not as many opportunities to eat it cold. Is the skin still crispy after refrigeration? I don't make "fried in oil" fried chicken at home, but make oven-baked crumb coated chicken thigh strips. These might be good made a day ahead and refrigerated. I'll keep this in mind for future cold suppers.
Yes, I agree! That’s what our family would have on Sunday evenings after a big fried chicken lunch back in the day.
DeleteLili, that is surprising to me that you’ve only had fried chicken a few times in your life! Being from the south, it’s a mainstay of cookouts, and get togethers. Many of our restaurants have fried chicken on Fridays and most barbecue places have BBQ and fried chicken. It is very good and my sweet MIL made some of the best. I’m not very good at frying chicken and for health reasons don’t eat it much. But I still love me a fried chicken thigh on occasion!
DeleteHi Lynn,
DeleteI think this is a case of regional difference. I'm from California. My mother made baked chicken every week. It was either Shake and Bake or chicken pieces baked in golden mushroom soup. I do have a very distinct memory of going to a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant when I was about 8 and my sister was 10. My sister and I always split meals when we went to fast food places. The two of us split a small box of chicken that came with 2 pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a roll. My sister got to choose which piece of chicken she wanted, and I got to choose one other side dish to add (I chose Cole slaw). We were with my mother on errands in another town. We didn't have KFC in our own town. This was one of 2 times I ever ate at KFC. And as an adult, my husband and I have eaten in surprisingly few restaurants over an almost 40-year marriage, due to financial constraints.
I admire a home-cook who can do good fried chicken in a cast iron skillet. There's a scene in Driving Miss Daisy where Miss Daisy is cooking fried chicken in a skillet and Hoke, her driver, steps in to advise her on how to do it better. That scene always stuck with me when thinking about home-cooking fried chicken.
I have done a 3 salad plate, chicken salad, tuna salad and egg salad with a lettuce base and quartered tomatoes and some kind of bread or muffin. We also do chef salad which for us is basically a lettuce base with leftovers. I am at the end of the butter crunch lettuce in my garden and waiting for the spinach to come in.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy,
DeleteThe trio of salads sound delicious, protein-packed, and easy. I also like the idea of cold leftovers over a bed of lettuce. That would be very doable. My late-summer butter lettuce are just now seedlings. We're looking forward to this batch of lettuce around September 1. I haven't tried spinach for a late summer green. How well does it stand up to late summer heat? Does it bolt easily, or does it last fairly well in the garden later this month?
Hi friends,
ReplyDeleteupdate on the cold supper: It was great! The travel home took an hour longer than normal. Traffic was terrible. I'm the driver, and I was rather tired by the time we walked in the door. I had my daughters bring the picnic cooler from our lunch picnic into the house while my husband emptied the interior of the car for us, and I popped the slices of pre-buttered-garlic bread under the broiler. Once my daughter got the cooler into the house and unloaded, they pulled out the cold dinner fixings from the fridge and tossed the slaw salad with dressing. I had time to change into comfy clothes before the garlic toast was done. Everything was set onto the counter for a buffet, so this was super easy for me/us. Practically no dishes to wash. There are leftovers in the fridge to use for lunch today. I have to say, this is a fantastic way to do dinner when you know ahead that the day will be a long or tiring one.
Yes, well done Lili. Perfect ending to a summer day.
DeleteThank you, Lynn!
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