22-05-2025
Fresh Recipes for Touching Grass
There has been a shift. Over just a few days last week, a tangle of digital party invitations filled my phone for the weekend ahead, words like 'picnic' and 'garden' and 'backyard is reserved' catching my eye like glinting charms. One event is titled, plainly, 'We outsiiiide.'
We absolutely are. So in honor of 'Should we eat outside?' season, and to prepare us all for it, I pulled together 24 snacks, salads, sandwiches, skewers, sweets and more for packing up, schlepping and sharing outdoors. They are, in short, recipes for touching grass.
Many of them are vegetarian (Tomato and farro salad with arugula! Potato salad with tartar sauce!) or easily adapted to suit whatever preferences you have (Stuff your onigiri with pickled vegetables!). Here are a few of the dishes I'm most looking forward to, as well as a few bonus ideas just for you, my Veggie friends.
Naan-o paneer-o sabzi: Everything I want to eat this summer is on Naz Deravian's sprightly and abundant bread, feta and herb platter. Briny cheese, fragrant mint and basil, walnuts and lavash or pita are nonnegotiable. But tacking on cooling, juicy produce like watermelon, grapes and cucumbers swerves things over into refreshing territory, making it the kind of grazing meal you just can't quit.
Good for: Breaking in your new patio furniture; a breezy lunch picnic with your book club; a 'chill summer afternoon movie date,' according to Pooja, a reader
You might also like: The herbs, feta, fruit and ciabatta in this country panzanella with watermelon dressing
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