Enjoy the Fourth of July with Summer Recipes

This seems to be the time of year for gatherings and potlucks. Here are some good recipes for casual parties: Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad and Puff Pastry Fruit Strips.

Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad, a recipe from Nita Cox, can be used to feed a crowd, or it can be scaled down for a smaller group. Cox said she likes it “because the dressing is not mayo-based – and it makes a lot (22 1-cup servings).”

She served it to a women’s luncheon group, but her sister scaled it down easily for a much smaller gathering.  

Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad

1 16-oz. package bow tie pasta
1 c. vegetable oil
2/3 c. white wine vinegar
2/3 c. teriyaki sauce
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 11-oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 8-oz. cans sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and drained
1½ c. honey-roasted peanuts
1 9-oz. package fresh spinach, torn
1 6-oz. package dried cranberries
6 green onions, chopped
½ c. sesame seeds, toasted
2 c. cooked chicken breast, cubed

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and place in a very large bowl. In separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar, teriyaki sauce, sugar and pepper. Pour over pasta to coat. Cover and refrigerate for two hours. Just before serving, add remaining ingredients and gently toss to coat.

Note: If you pour the dressing over hot pasta, nearly all of the liquid will be absorbed by the pasta, giving it a rich teriyaki flavor. If you prefer a milder teriyaki taste, rinse and cool the pasta before adding the dressing; if you do this, you will have dressing remaining, which you can mix in with the other ingredients, as desired.

Tasters’ Comments: This time I did ask some perfect strangers to be taste testers. I pulled them in off the street outside of . Two women, Mary Truesdale and Nancy Lohr, are from Ann Arbor, and they had friends with them from California, Paula Duncan and Claudia Borders.

Isn’t it great that people come from far away to shop in Dexter? They all agreed that the salad was really good and had a nice combination of flavors due to the balance between the sweet and salty tastes, and they liked the crunchiness.  

Anne’s comments: This recipe is quite flexible; I doubled the amount of chicken and think that when I make it for a Fourth of July party, I will replace the water chestnuts with celery since my husband doesn’t really care for water chestnuts.

Puff Pastry Fruit Strips

This recipe was my husband’s request for Father’s Day. A week later, my son Karl requested it for his birthday dessert. I even had a caterer ask me for the recipe and how I keep it from getting soggy when I make it ahead. Must be the baked-on egg wash that does it.

1 17-oz. package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
1 egg (beaten with 1 Tbsp. water) or 2 Tbsp. egg substitute
1 3-oz. package instant vanilla (or other flavor) pudding mix
1 c. skim milk
¾ c. low-fat sour cream
2 Tbsp. coarse sugar or finely chopped nuts
2-3 c. fresh fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, banana and blueberries. (Amount depends on size of fruit, slicing, leaving berries whole, etc.)
Strawberry jelly or confectioners sugar

Thaw puff pastry 30-40 minutes or until soft enough to unfold. Open one sheet up and cut along fold lines into thirds. Cut 1/3 into four thin strips. (I use a pizza cutter to cut it easily and neatly).

Beat egg with water in small bowl. Brush egg wash all over each pastry rectangle and press one thin strip onto each long edge. Place each piece on a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with Pam or other cooking spray. Prick center section of each piece with a fork all over. Repeat with second sheet of puff pastry. Brush thin edges also with egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar or nuts, if desired.

I always refrigerate the pastry for about 10 minutes to make sure that it is completely chilled, and then I preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake pastries for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and prick with fork in center section again. Continue baking eight to 10 minutes more or until golden. Cool completely on wire racks.

Meanwhile, make mock pastry cream by combining pudding mix, milk and sour cream in mixer bowl or blender. Mix or blend until thickened. Cover and chill while washing and cutting up desired fruit.

To assemble: Spread pastry cream down center of each pastry. Arrange fruit decoratively over top. Brush with melted strawberry jelly or sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Makes 24 servings.  

Variations: Melt about 1 cup chocolate chips in microwave (cook for 30 seconds, stir, then continue cooking at 10-second intervals until completely melted). Brush over middle of cooled pastry strips. Layer with pastry cream and fresh raspberries. For a patriotic look, use white chocolate pudding mix with red and blue berries. Try cheesecake pudding mix with strawberries and kiwi. In the winter, I have even used vanilla or cheesecake mix with canned pie filling on top.

Note: I have made and assembled these up to eight hours ahead. If I plan to serve them for an early brunch or breakfast, I make it all the night before and assemble it in the morning.  

Remember to send in your favorite recipes for Dexter Patch’s food column. I really would like to try one of your favorite recipes. Family, friends and perfect strangers who happen to walk by will taste test the interesting and delectable recipes. Send recipes to akcooker@yahoo.com.