Weekends can't come quickly enough now that we've passed the Rubicon of the Fourth of July. We need them to banish memories of summer commuting and the stick and pull of work clothes at noon, when you get three feet outside your office and already regret going to the bank. Whether you're in a friend's backyard or a city apartment with the air-conditioner on high, the next two months are meant for barefoot padding from Friday until Monday dawn. We ought to cook to match.
Summer is a cooking season in which there is no set menu save what looks good at the store. That was my objective, anyway, when I went to the farmer's market to prepare for this meal, intended for a small group of friends but easily scaled up to a lot of friends or down to immediate family. I bought nice tomatoes. I got a fat young watermelon, some baby potatoes, fist-size cabbages, ripe avocados, herbs, a couple of chickens, a huge pile of strawberries, a six-pack of beer. As I shopped, a plan formed in my head for a simple, no-fuss, cook-it-anywhere summer feast. There would be salads: tomatoes and watermelon combined with a sharp tang of feta; grilled potatoes in a dressing, bright with acidity and heavy with bacon fat and smoky chipotle; a slaw reminiscent of tropical beaches. The main event: barbecued chicken with a sauce that nods at the tangy white one made famous at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Ala. This is beer-can chicken, essentially, in a silken coat. Corn bread might come on the side and, always, hot dogs. An adult will have a hot dog as an appetizer. A child might eat two and ask for dessert. Speaking of: summer calls for strawberries, macerated in sugar and piled over poundcake, with a billow of whipped cream.
This feast takes only a few hours to make and it can be done as easily in a dodgy little rental kitchen in the middle of town as over a small grill on the porch. (Those with enormous grills on sprawling country estates should face no significant obstacle, either.) Planning helps. Make the poundcake the night before. Parboil the potatoes in advance while you're at it. And take a cue from the picnic crowd on the serving temperature of the chicken. You can put it on the table an hour after cooking it with no perceptible loss of deliciousness. The sauce helps.
Be mellow above all. Just lay out the food on a prettily set table and let people have at it with cold drinks. The holiday continues until the Labor Day buzzer sounds.
More on Summer Feasts: Recipes From TV Presidents | Rosie Schaap on What to Drink
Related Recipes: Tomato-and Watermelon Salad | Grilled Fingerling-Potato Salad With Chipotle Bacon Vinaigrette | Beer-Can Chicken | White Barbecue Sauce | Costa Rican Coleslaw | Poundcake and Strawberries
Sam Sifton is national editor of The Times and a food columnist for the magazine.
Editor: Jon Kelly
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