A perfect time for a picnic

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If ever there was a perfect time for a picnic, then this — the era of the global COVID-19 pandemic – is surely it. With most of us not travelling anywhere and all of us trying to maintain physical distancing rules, a picnic is the perfect, manageable, and safe mini-escape from the reality of the pandemic.

And in the midst of a beautiful Canadian summer, what better way is there to take advantage of all of our wild places — our leafy green parks, our forests, our glittering waters and beaches, our lush gardens, and even the shady corners of our own backyards — than a picnic?

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Picnics loom large in our collective imagination. From the simplest meal to the most extravagant, we are hardwired to remember food. But it may well be that our recollection of picnics is even more profound because it is linked to some deeply embedded, collective primordial memory of our earliest human experience of being nomads and hunter-gatherers: of eating outdoors.

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Picnicking is a return to who we are and where we came from. We began by eating outdoors. We have, in a sense, been picnicking forever.

According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, a picnic is “an outing or excursion including a packed meal eaten out of doors.” The term picnic is believed to have come from the French pique-nique, said to have been first used in France in the 1600s, not originally for a meal held outdoors but rather derived from the French verb, piquer, meaning to pick, or to peck, presumably at tasty morsels of food.

We remember picnics above and beyond many other food memories. They capture our imagination and stick with us. There is something extraordinary, beautiful, happy, and even deeply therapeutic about picnics. Perhaps it is the bringing together of community – of eating together. Perhaps it is because of the impact of the places we choose to picnic — often immersed in nature and natural beauty spots. Or maybe it is the simple matter of time spent outdoors, something that is increasingly rare as our lives move further and further indoors. And then, finally, there is the food itself.

Picnics can be as simple as a takeaway pizza and a bottle of prosecco or sparkling water; as charming as a rustic loaf of bread, a big wedge of brie with some local raw honey to drizzle over it, fresh strawberries, and a nice bottle of wine; or as complicated as Mrs. Beeton’s two full pages of instructions for a picnic for 40, in her 1861 landmark cookbook, Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

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Before the season is over, gather your blanket, your lawn chairs, and your picnic basket and head for the wild places. Just don’t forget to bring along hand sanitizer, your face masks, serviettes, cutlery, and a corkscrew.

A simple picnic menu

Giant Muffuletta sandwich

A selection of washed and cut fresh veggies including carrot sticks, radishes, sugar snap peas, celery, etc.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies

A variety of drinks

Giant Muffuletta sandwich

Originating in New Orleans – the Muffuletta sandwich should be made a day (or up to two days) in advance of eating in order to optimize flavour. If properly wrapped, and kept in a cooler, it will keep safely at room temperature for up to two hours. You can play with the ingredients but the classic muffuletta is made on either a round Italian white loaf or focaccia and filled with a tasty olive and pickled vegetable mix, and layers of deli meat and cheese.

Ingredients

1 large UNSLICED loaf of focaccia, or whole white sourdough, or Italian white bread

For the olive spread

1 cup of pimento stuffed olives plus 1 tbsp liquid from the jar

½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped

1 cup chopped giardiniera (pickled Italian vegetables – sold in a jar in the International section of most supermarkets) plus 1 tbsp liquid from the jar*

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced OR 2-3 green onions, finely sliced

1 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley or 1 tsp dried parsley

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or ½ tsp dried

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Salt and pepper

¼ tsp dried chili pepper flakes

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp red wine vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have on hand)

*if you can’t find giardiniera you can substitute chopped pickles mixed with chopped marinated artichokes, marinated mushrooms, etc.

For the rest of the sandwich

250 grams Genoa salami

250 grams prosciutto

454 grams black forest ham

250 grams sliced provolone

250 grams sliced mozzarella, Havarti, or other favourite cheese

To assemble:

Mix together all the olive spread ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

Carefully slice the bread in half horizontally.

Spread the olive mix on both interior sides of the bread.

On the bottom half, layer the meats and cheeses and then carefully flip the top half, olive spread facing down onto the sandwich.

Wrap the sandwich tightly in tinfoil or wax paper. Place on a large plate or a baking sheet. Place a heavy item like a large cast iron skillet on top of the sandwich and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Before packing your picnic basket, remove the Muffuletta from the fridge, unwrap and cut the loaf into manageable sandwich sized pieces. Rewrap. Eat within two hours. If this is not possible, use a cooler and ice packs to keep the sandwich cold.

Lindy Mechefske is the award-winning author of Out of Old Ontario Kitchensand Sir John’s Table. Watch for Ontario Picnics (coming soon). Contact via: lindymechefske.com.