Fourth Feast

We found the perfect spot by a lake for our holiday picnic-one starting with a scallop pasta salad and ending with a red, white & blue parfait.  Our menu featured:

Scallop Pasta Salad 

Cheese Board

Tomato Olive Bread

Berry Yogurt Parfait

For the salad I chopped various vegetables and fresh herbs.  I steamed a few market peas for a few minutes and added those to farmers market tomatoes, carrots, radishes and garlic scapes.  I included celery and fennel from my refrigerator.  The fresh herbs were from my back deck, and I included a little of most:  basil, thyme, cilantro, oregano and chives.  I do not worry about portion control on these raw vegetables.  I cook only the amount of pasta I need, usually a little less than the serving size on the package.  The pasta is drained and rinsed with cold water before mixing with the vegetables.  The dressing is from Southern Living: (Open this link to see the clever way they serve the salad!) 

Mustard Citrus Vinaigrette

(Serves 2)

2 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon olive oil

I brushed a little of the vinaigrette on the jumbo scallops and broiled, then cooled to top the salad.

The tomato and olive bread recipe is a keeper.  The dough fills a large, double round loaf pan and only needs to rise once.

The parfait has layers of chopped fresh blueberries and strawberries between a plain non-fat yogurt, mixed with a teaspoon of honey.

Curtisville Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA), just outside of Mannington, West Virginia, was the location.  We found a picnic table directly by the lake.  The wild flowers were full of gold finches and the stocked lake was filled with small, blue fin fishes.  A bull frog honked nearby.  Since this is only 40 miles from home, we'll be sure and return here in the fall when the leaves turn!