Potluck suppers can be a lot of fun, but they’ve got a built-in problem: Keeping the food hot – or cold.
Yes, you can take one of the easy ways around this: Bring dessert (as long as it’s not ice cream), cold cuts, cheese, raw vegetables with dip, or sushi. Or you can try to time your dish so precisely that it’s done right when it’s time to head out the door and still hot when you get to the supper. Just hope the meal starts on time. You also can bring along your crockpot and hope you can find a place to plug it in.
Or you can try something a little different: A dish that’s delicious at room temperature but is definitely more than just a snack. For example:
· Muffalettas (spelling varies). This New Orleans specialty takes little more time to make than a few sandwiches – but it’s a lot more impressive. As the Grill Sergeants tell us, it’s a loaf of Italian bread stuffed with ham, cheese, and salami topped with olive salad (a mixture of green and black olives, pimento, celery, garlic, cocktail onions, oregano, parsley, vinegar, salt, and pepper.) You can warm it in the oven until the cheese melts, but it’s just as good without.
· Cured salmon. (Pictured.) The salmon is first soaked in whisky, then marinated (cured) overnight in maple syrup, brown sugar, spices, and coarse salt, cooked, and cooled — the recipe is here. Though it doesn’t turn sweet, as you might expect, chef Matt Dunigan rightly says, “It’s like candy for grown-ups.” I baked mine instead of smoking it – and it was still great. Serve with bread or crackers.
· This bean and corn salad is recommended by an Idea Offer reader, who says, “You could even put it out with some tortilla chips to scoop it with.”
Try one of these next time there’s a potluck.
