Picnics

We live near a very large park in St. Louis and are lucky enough to have free concerts twice a month throughout the summer.  The first concert was last night and it's always a huge ordeal over what to cook- what will taste good in the heat?  What won't spoil?  What won't melt?  Ina always comes to the rescue because she has endless recipes for simple salads that will stand up to the heat and won't spoil.  The picture above is what I chose for last night.  It's my husband's personal favorite picnic meal and it's called "Roasted Shrimp and Orzo".  The recipe is in Ina's "Barefoot Contessa at Home" cookbook, page 74.  Basically, it's orzo pasta tossed with roasted shrimp, red onion, cucumber, dill, parsley, feta, with a olive oil-lemon vinaigrette.  It couldn't be easier to make and it tastes better the longer it sits. 

So, now that I have my first concert done, the challenge is what to make for the remaining concerts.  Maybe I'll get creative and make my own recipes or combine recipes into a great meal.  I have 2 weeks to figure it out.