Picnic Side Nibbles

16 years ago

Ruthanna has a great thread going about tea sandwich picnics and it got me thinking about what goes with sandwiches or other picnic fare. Of course, it's nice to have a salad or other side dishes, but I'm talking about the little, nibbly things...pickles, savory bites etc.

I love to have good cucumber pickles, either traditional dill or sweets or a quick, rice vinegar pickle my Japanese "Mom" taught me to make. For these, you chunk pickling cukes (I like to leave the peel on), put them in a jar with rice vinegar, sugar, salt and a few dried red chilis, and leave them in the fridge for a few days before eating. They're wonderfully crunchy, sweet and sour.

Olives of any kind are terrific too, whether fancy Italian or Greek or the simple, canned black olives of my childhood.

Another nibble from childhood were radish flowers. Cut cross hatches in radishes (you leave the root on as a handle) and put them in water to "bloom" in the fridge a few hours before. Also, green onion tassels...leaving the bottom of the onion intact, you cut off the dark green part and reserve it for another use...then, slice the several inches of pale green part into thin ribbons, which also curl up after a couple of hours in iced water. We always had those with celery sticks and carrot curls, just sprinkled with a bit of salt or with a dip my Mom made which was something like 1000 Island dressing. Nowadays, I also like to have some za'atar, celery salt or an olive oil/balsamic dip along with other raw veggies and chilled, boiled red potatoes but sometimes I stick with simple salt.

Spiced nuts are another favorite nibble. I toast a variety of raw nuts in a very small amount of oil and then toss them with popcorn salt, chaat masala or curry seasonings. Lately I've been making home made "smoked" nuts, soaking the nuts in liquid smoke & water overnight before toasting them and tossing them in popcorn salt.

One other childhood snack I can ONLY eat on a picnic for some reason, is tinned sardines in mustard sauce on saltine crackers.

What kinds of "nibbles" are in your picnic traditions?

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Comments (10)

ruthanna_gw
16 years ago
#1 would be fruit. I like to pack a chilled cantaloupe or muskmelon, peeled and cut into slivers or cubes. For late summer or early fall, seckel pears usually are the first things I unpack.

My mother would cut up a fresh pineapple for picnics when I was a child. It was about the only time we'd have fresh ones instead of canned.
annie1992
16 years ago
ruthanna, fresh Seckel pears make it onto my "10 best things I've ever eaten" list, I love 'em.

I don't care for olives or pickles, but I love nuts. We never took them on picnics, though. I do like sardines on saltine crackers, those were lunch when we were camping, so I think that's kind of like a picnic.

We still picnic when we go to the beach, it's usually ham and cheese sandwiches, some fruit and then ice cream from the concession stand.

Annie
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teresa_nc7
16 years ago
What springs to mind for me is crunchy foods - and those that I don't keep on hand regularly, so they are a treat:

pretzel sticks and spicy honey mustard
goldfish crackers (a roadtrip snack only)
flavored kettle chips
pita chips with hummus or spinach dip
peanut M&Ms
dgkritch
16 years ago
Assorted fresh veggies are easy to eat out of hand.
Radish, bell pepper, cukes, broc, cauliflower, carrot and celery sticks, etc.
I love them with just a little salt. Hold the Ranch.

Olives, grapes, cheese sticks/wedges, crackers.

I MUST have BBQ potato chips.

I love to take 4 bean salad in a canning jar. No worries about the heat since it's vinegar based.

Deanna
althetrainer
16 years ago
For me it's the fresh out of the oven monkey bread!

Of course, I will never forget the trail mix with lots of nuts, chocolate pretzels, cheese & crackers, apples, oranges, grapes, and all sorts of berries. Yummy!

Al
plllog
16 years ago
Raehelen, I think our mothers must come from the same school--the raddish roses and carrot curls for sure, and your quick pickles sound like a version of the Japanese cucumber salad my mother makes.

I'm more of the loaf of bread, jug of wine (and stinky cheese) kind of picnicker. Lots of crudite, curled or otherwise. Olives, hearts of palm, baby corn, marinated mushrooms. Anything simple and whole that doesn't need preparation or utensils (in my salad days I had a pocket knife with a cheese blade ;) ).

Prepared nibbles? How about stuffed grape leaves? Or pack Israeli salad into miniature peppers. Home made potato chips.

I have a friend who loves pinwheel sandwiches, which can be made small, the size of a quarter. It's just important to use sticky ingredients for a picnic so they don't come apart. Flour tortillas are gummy, but work well.

Another friend makes something like ham and cheese granola. I'm not sure what it is, but it's crunchy.

How about hard boiled quail eggs?
glenda_al
16 years ago
Marinated cheese
2 pkg cheese cubes
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Garnish: flat-leaf parsley sprigs or fresh rosemary stems
Preparation

. Whisk together 1/2 cup olive oil, chopped parsley, and next 6 ingredients; pour evenly over cheese cubes. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours
ysop1016
16 years ago
Glenda,
Your cheese recipe sounds yummy. Is that (2) 8oz. bags of cheese cubes?
lpinkmountain
16 years ago
When I was a kid, mom and dad would bring cheese and crackers and SMOKED OYSTERS out of a tin, along on picnics for snacks. I can't believe how much I loved them. Now I don't eat them, I know too much about them!
plllog
16 years ago
Ooops!! I'm sorry, Rachelellen, for mixing up your name.

Picnic Side Nibbles

Comments (10)

ruthanna_gw

annie1992

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