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ByNancyLindahl Thecountrysidearound Chico is so extraordi- narily beautiful right now you can point yourself in any direction and find a wonderful place for a pic- nic. The wildflowers on Ta- ble Mountain should be spectacular, but if you want to escape the crowds, head west toward Black Butte Lake, or east to the Forebay or Oroville's Riv- erbend Park. Drive up Centerville Road in Butte Creek Can- yon to the Centerville Schoolhouse/Colman Musem, or drive over to the Lake Oroville Golf and Event Center for a view of the lake. Bidwell Park is splen- didly green up through the city and into upper park, and there are pretty places up Butte Creek by the cov- ered bridge. If you're lucky you'll have a pretty day with magnificent March clouds scudding across the sky. I was spoiling for a pic- nic last Sunday, but the rain kept me inside try- ing out recipes for an Easter picnic next week- end. There are no rules for picnics – you can grab a blanket and some fried chicken at the gro- cery store deli counter, or throw together pea- nut butter and jelly sand- wiches with a bag of chips – it's all about being out- side in the glorious Chico spring weather. I wanted to do some- thing special for Easter so this is a picnic stepped up a notch with some chi-chi presentation features and good portable food. Every- thing can and should be made the day before, so on picnic day you just get up and go. Easter Picnic Menu: Italian Pressed Sand- wiches Italian Potato Salad Devilled eggs Fresh Strawberries Lemon Bars with Olive Oil and Sea Salt Mineral water with ice and bitters or prosecco; hot coffee to go with the lemon bars. The menu starts with Italian pressed sandwiches which follow Ina Garten's principle that some of the best dishes are made by simply "assembling" high- quality ingredients. For starters, this sandwich uses ciabatta or focaccia from local Tin Roof Bak- ery. To make these into 'pressed sandwiches,' basi- cally all you do is assemble all the ingredients, wrap the whole loaf tightly with plastic wrap, and then weigh it down in the re- frigerator overnight. This compresses all the ingredients together, in- fusing the flavors, and also creating a tight com- pact sandwich where none of the ingredients will fall out and make a mess. Once the sandwich is "pressed," you can slice your loaf into sandwiches. Slicing all four sides of the individual sandwiches also showcases the beautiful colors of each layer of in- gredients. And then, this is the chi-chi part, if you are feeling really special and want to take your picnic to the next level, you can in- dividually wrap each sand- wich in parchment and tie them up with some cute string. Wrapping each sand- wich also provides for easy transport for picnics, work lunches, plane food, etc., because they are self-con- tained and easy to serve. Use your favorite sa- lami, cold cuts and cheeses. Skip the mayon- naise and substitute an ol- ive tapenade for flavor and food safety. I followed the recipe below, but would substitute a more flavorful cheese, maybe Provolone. The roasted red peppers as well as the olive oil and balsamic drizzle provide a counterpoint to the meat and cheese. I used a focac- cia loaf because sometimes ciabatta can be tough, but choose your favorite. Presseditalian sandwiches Makes8servings Ingredients: 1ciabattaorfocaccialoaf (about 8by 14by 2inches) 1cup store-bought black or green olive tapenade 2tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 pound thinly sliced Ge- noa salami 3ounces thinly sliced pro- sciutto 1/4 pound thinly sliced spicy Italian cold cuts, such as coppa or capocolla 8ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced 1jar roasted red bell pepper, cut in big chunks fresh basil, torn into bite- size pieces Freshly ground black pepper Preparation: Cut ciabatta or focaccia in half horizontally. Spread bottom half with tapenade. Drizzle cut side of top half with vinegar and oil. Arrange salami on top of tapenade, followed by the prosciutto, cold cuts, mozzarella, red pepper, and basil. Sprinkle with pepper to taste and place top half of loaf on filling. Wrap sandwich thoroughly with plastic wrap or foil. Place a heavy cutting board or other flat object on top of sandwich and slightly flatten the loaf by push- ing down on the board. Put the board and sandwich in the refrigerator and weight it down with a 2- to 4-lb. weight (such as a large pot or six-pack of soda). Let sit overnight. Unwrap, cut into eighths, and serve. Recipe from Sun- set magazine. • • • This Italian potato salad recipe comes from Kathleen Henry, whose new cookbook, Pure and Beautiful Vegan Cooking comes out this April. Henry, from Alaska, has issues with normal potato salads: "Most po- tato salad is either soak- ing in way too much liq- uid or is as dry as a bone. Sometimes it's completely lacking in flavor. More of- ten than not, it's mostly just a whole lotta mayon- naise with some mushy potatoes and a little veg- gies thrown in just so you know you're not just con- suming a potato and may- onnaise smoothie. I won't even discuss store-bought potato salad." This salad is completely mayo-free. Instead, it's dressed in a beautiful her- bed olive oil and fresh lemon juice dressing. Ten- der baby red potatoes, crunchy celery, tart ca- pers, salty Kalamata ol- ives, and juicy cherry to- matoes mingle with fresh basil and parsley to make the truly simplest and most lovely potato salad you've ever had. It's my new favorite. Italian potato salad Salad serves 4-6 Ingredients: 3lbs. baby red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered or halved 1cup cherry tomatoes, halved 6celery stalks, sliced 3Tbsp. capers, drained 1small red onion, halved and thinly sliced 16pitted Kalamata olives, halved 1/4 cup fresh basil, chif- fonade 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chif- fonade Dressing: 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1large lemon, juiced 1tsp. dried Italian herb seasoning 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper Instructions: Start by bringing a very large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Mean- while wash and scrub the potatoes of any dirt. If the potatoes are on the larger side, cut or quarter them. Once the water reaches a rapid boil, add the potatoes. Boil for about 20minutes, until tender when pierced with a fork. Strain and set aside. While the potatoes boil, prep the remaining salad ingredients. Add them all to a very large serving bowl and combine. To make the dressing, simply combine all the ingredients in small bowl or measuring cup and whisk well. Add the boiled potatoes to the large serving bowl and combine with the tomato/ celery/olive mixture. Pour the dressing over it all and mix again, until well coated. Serve warm or cold! Recipe from Kathleen Henry. Cooking Note: If you are using small red pota- toes (2 inches or smaller), I like to steam them in- stead of boiling them. The skins stay intact and pink, and the potatoes are less watery. Put a couple of inches of water in a pot, add veggie steamer basket, and pile the little red new potatoes on top. Cover and reduce heat after wa- ter boils. Check after 15 minutes with a fork. Basil Chiffonade: Stack fresh basil leaves, roll into a cigar shape and us- ing a sharp knife, cut nar- row strips across the ci- gar resulting in thin rib- bons of basil. The same idea apples to parsley, but it seems more difficult. Minced is fine. • • • Hanna loves lemon bars, so I thought I'd try this new twist on an old favor- ite, lemon bars with olive oil and sea salt. Although I love Meyer lemons, reg- ular old Eurekas have the lemon punch this dessert needs. Traditional lemon bars balance the tangy sweet- ness of lemon curd with a rich shortbread crust. This recipe adds extra notes of flavor to the mix: the com- pelling green bitterness of good olive oil and a touch of sea salt sprinkled on top. Choose an olive oil with personality, other- wise you'll miss the point. Something herbal and fresh tasting with peppery notes works best. Although the bars will last up to five days when stored in the fridge, they have the brightest fla- vor when eaten within 24 hours of baking. Lemon bars with olive oil and sea salt Yield 24bars Ingredients For the crust: 1¼ cups all-purpose flour ¼ cup granulated sugar 3tablespoons confection- ers' sugar, plus more for sprinkling 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt 10tablespoons cold un- salted butter, cut into cubes For the curd: 4to 6lemons 1½ cups sugar 2large eggs plus 3yolks 1½ teaspoons cornstarch Pinch of fine sea salt 4tablespoons butter ¼ cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil Confectioners' sugar Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling Preparation Heat oven to 325degrees and line a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with enough parchment to hang over two of the sides (to be used as handles later to li the bars out of the pan). To make the shortbread base, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar, lemon zest and salt in a food processor, or whisk together in a large bowl. Add butter and pulse (or use two knives or your fingers) to cut the butter into the flour until a crumbly dough forms. Press dough into prepared pan and bake until shortbread is pale golden all over, 30to 35 minutes. While the shortbread is bak- ing, prepare the lemon curd: Grate 1/2 tablespoon zest from lemons and set aside. Squeeze lemons to yield 3/4 cup juice. In a small saucepan, whisk together lemon juice, sugar, eggs and yolks, cornstarch and fine sea salt over me- dium heat until boiling and thickened, 2to 5minutes. Make sure mixture comes to a full rolling boil or the cornstarch won't activate. But once it boils do not cook for longer than 1minute or you risk the curd thinning out again. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Whisk in butter, olive oil and lemon zest. When the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and carefully pour the lemon curd onto the shortbread base; return the pan to the oven. Bake until topping is just set, 10to 15minutes more. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refriger- ate until cold before cutting into bars. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and flaky sea salt right before serving. Recipe by Melissa Clark, New York Times. Cooking notes: If you're having problems with the curd setting up, it's prob- ably because either the curd didn't reach a vig- orous enough boil, or you may have over boiled it. The curd needs to come to a full boil and stay there for at least 30 sec- onds or so. You should see it thicken up before you take it off the heat. But overboiling will thin it out. Cornstarch can be tricky. One thing to note: Olive oil does make it softer than the usual lemon bar topping, so keep these in the refriger- ator until serving time. Happy Easter. I hope you find some tall grass with a sprinkling of wild- flowers and a place to lie on your back and watch the clouds. SWEET BASIL AND THE BEE Pi ni ng f or a p ic ni c Weather, verdant countryside invite an outdoor meal PHOTOS BY NANCY LINDAHL A beautiful, homemade Italian picnic is just waiting for a sunny day. The best thing about the Italian potato salad: It has no mayonnaise. The pressed Italian sandwich is made by using quality ingredients, then mashing them all together. 734MainStreet 530-690-2477 11am-9pm Mon.-Thur. 11am - 10pm Fri. & Sat. 11am-8pm Sun. 9 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP Pizza Restaurant 365-7194or365-4322 OPEN 7 DAYS 6am-10pm 8080 AIRPORT ROAD Your full service: Meat Department, Deli & Groceries www.kentsmeats.com On-site HARVESTING CUTTING & CRYOVACING FOOD » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 23, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4