Parenthetical.net

Warm weather, Shakespeare on the Common… picnic time! I adore picnics. The trouble with them, though, is that everything has to be cold, and in my fridge I had primarily zucchini and eggplant — traditionally warm foods.

Internets to the rescue! Inspired by this recipe from the NYTimes and this one from A Sweet Life, I tossed some eggplant cubes and zucchini spears in olive oil, salt, and lemon juice and roasted them at 350 until just tender. Toss again with more olive oil, chopped mint, and capers, and stick ‘em back in the fridge overnight to chill. This morning I added some ground cherries because I am obsessed.

The even bigger winner, though, was a cold zucchini yogurt soup inspired by this recipe from Tobias Cooks! Having no onion, I fried a bit of garlic (ok, a lot of garlic) in olive oil, then added zucchini chunks. Having no potato, I used a parsnip instead for the starchy thickener. Add water to the whole thing (and some white wine, to make up for the fact that I also had no veggie stock) and boil until the veggies are blendable.

I toasted a handful of almonds and ground them in the food processor. Then I added the boiled veggies and pureed, using a little almond milk because it looked too thick. Finally, some salt and a couple of big spoonfuls of Greek yogurt, and back to the fridge for chilling. YUM. It’s definitely parsnippy, so I’d like to try it with the more retiring potato flavor next time. I bet it would also be good with mint, but as I have enough mint in my yard to put a cup of it in everything I cook until winter, I decided some self-control was in order.

Soup, salad, gluten-free Cracklebred crackers, leftover blueberry hazelnut bars made with gluten-free flour, my hilariously excellent picnic backpack (thanks, Redbeard’s mom!), a truly excellent production of Othello and some smooches… a perfect picnic.