Picnic Pleasures

What better way to mark the season's passage from winter to spring than with a picnic! A picnic can be as simple as good bread, cheese and fruit or as elaborate as chilled vichyssoise in a thermos with cold fried chicken. It can be a quick weekday escape from the hustle of work or a leisurely weekend feast for two (or twenty). You can dine in your own backyard, on your apartment terrace…or just spread a blanket on your living room floor (add a big handful of daisies–now you've got the idea!). Picnic favorites are always fun, but for a change from traditional take–along foods, we've assembled some well–traveled seafood picnic ideas that can go wherever you do. So dust off your picnic basket, grab your favorite blanket and dig into these easy picnic recipes.

Recipes

• Greek Salad with Squid
• Herbed Lobster Roll
• Shrimp, Orange and Arugula Salad
• Salmon Pasta Salad

Quickies on the Go

For the truly spontaneous picnic, swing by your favorite grocery store and pick up some simple seafood snacks. Good bread, good cheese and fresh fruit can be added to any of these ideas, making a well-rounded meal to last you until supper:

Peel and eat shrimp with a jar of good quality cocktail sauce for dipping and lemons for squeezing; add some sliced country-style bread for makeshift, edible plates and you're set!

Spread flour tortilla or lavish with a thin layer of cream cheese, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs if you like (dill, basil, or cilantro) and cover with paper-thin slices of smoked salmon, roll up and go. Mix sliced pickled beets with pickled herring, throw in some chopped parsley and sliced onion; take along some Scandinavian-style hearty crackers.

Picnic Savvy

Ants are the age-old nemesis of the picnic, but lately another foe has been causing trouble. Food safety, a topic on everyone's mind, has given us reason to doubt the safety of perishable foods on a picnic, but this need not mean that your picnic fare be reduced to an apple and a slice of bread.

Temperature and time are the main culprits, and managing the two carefully will keep your picnic food safe. Protein foods (eggs, dairy products, meat, seafood) are of primary concern. They can harbor bacteria that may grow to harmful numbers when the food is left out for long periods. To prevent this, do not let protein foods sit out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours. If the outside temperature is over 85°F, the limit is 1 hour or less. So, if your picnic site is less than 2 hours from your refrigerator and the foods is kept cool in transit, your picnic food will be safe from harm.

• Store all prepared foods (salads, pasta, etc.) in airtight containers
• Sandwiches should be well wrapped to keep air out, ideally in plastic wrap followed by foil.
• Chill foods well up to the time that you leave.
• Pack perishable foods snugly in an ice chest, surrounded by ice and securely covered.
• If you do not have an ice chest, you can use a sturdy cardboard box, lined and topped with plenty of newspaper to help insulate the cold.
• Keep the ice chest or box in the coolest part of the vehicle, and out of direct sunlight; if sunlight is unavoidable, covering with a towel, a blanket or a coat will help shield the food container from the sun.