几个简单的夏日菜谱

Cold fried chicken

Cold fried chicken served outdoors on a red-checkered tablecloth is the essence of picnic nostalgia（乡愁） in the US. Because fried chicken keeps well and is just as delicious cold as it is hot, it's ideal for picnic situations。

Chicken also appears on picnic menus in other forms. You could enjoy a chicken salad, creamed chicken, or even chicken soup in a thermos for picnics on colder days。

Potato salad

The classic American dish shows up on picnic menus quite often. And it's easy to make and reinvent, because mashed potatoes go with different kinds of dressings. Besides the traditional mayonnaise（蛋黄酱） dressing, you can also dress it with oil and vinegar, bacon ranch or sour cream（酸奶油）。

Serve with watermelon and chocolate brownies, and you've got yourself a top-notch picnic。

Fruit and cheeseplatter

French people like keeping it simple, so fruit and cheese are quite common at picnics. Due to the picnic conditions (often in hotweather), hard cheeses tend to fare better.

A few tasty combinations: Cheddar and apples (sprinkle theapples with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown), watermelon and feta, ripe figs and blue cheese, tomatoes andmozzarella, or ricotta and grapes. Pack fruit and cheese separately to keep the flavors fresh。

Scotch eggs

The Scotch egg, a staple at traditional British picnics, iseasily eaten as a finger food. It's made by boiling an egg,encasing it in sausage meat, rolling it in breadcrumbs and then deep-frying it. Keep the Scotch eggs in the refrigerator, ready tobe served cold at your picnic.

There are many variations on this classic food, such as using duck or quail（鹌鹑） eggs and different types or flavors of sausage。

Prawn salad

In a country known for its abundance of seafood, a picnic wouldn't be complete without a seafood dish. Prawn salad, which is easy to make, keep and eat, naturally goes on the list.

Just boil a handful of prawns, remove the shells and mix themwith salad vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, olives and onions. A simple seasoning of salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice adds the final touch.

Sesame noodles

Japanese people love sashimi（生鱼片） and noodles. Since sashimi isn'teasy to keep fresh, a simple dish of sesame noodles is a favorite at picnics. It's versatile, too, as you can vary the vegetablesaccording to the season -- snow peas, roasted peppers, grilled eggplant, julienned carrots, bean sprouts, and fresh or dried mushrooms all work great.