Just in case the flag in the window wasn’t sufficient proof.
It’s the 4th of July, a day many Americans celebrate with beer, bizarre outfits and bloviating about “the greatest best country God has ever given man on the face of the earth.” Gourmandistan takes a slightly different path to celebrate the Fourth, a bit quieter than the usual American practice of blowing stuff up real good. Unfortunately, to the sort of people who desperately want to believe they live in “Real America,” being different is a dangerous thing. These people are seriously wrong. Being “different” is what America is all about. Like Gourmandistan, “America” is not a physical place. America is the idea that everyone can be equal without insisting that everyone should be the same—a message sadly lost on many a flag-bedecked booster of the mawkish version of “American Pride.”
We’ll enjoy our Independence Day with a delightful potato salad based on a recipe from a circus tall, French-loving CIA agent. And, we’ll end with a wild blackberry cobbler created by a Louisiana-born bachelor interior designer turned Reagan-era New York “chic but simple” lifestyle maven.
In sum: we’ll do some typical American things, but we’ll also celebrate “different.” After all, our idea of America was once endorsed by none other than the Chairman of the Board.
Happy Independence Day, everybody!
POTATO SALAD
(adapted from Julia Child’s Menu Cookbook)
- 3 lbs. potatoes, preferably small waxy ones
- 1/2 c. chicken (or vegetable) stock mixed with 3 TB cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 medium stalk celery, finely diced
- 1 or 2 pickles, finely diced*
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
- 2 TB chopped herbs, such as chives and/or parsley
- 2 oz. jar diced pimentos
- Somewhere between 1/2 and 1 c. mayonnaise, preferably homemade
Scrub potatoes. Boil them “in their jackets” in salted water until just tender. Drain off water, cover pan with a towel and let sit for 5 minutes or so. While still warm, peel potatoes and cut into approximately 1/2″ slices. Layer the still-warm potato slices in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and a dribble of stock/vinegar mixture on the layers as you go. Add onion, celery, pickle, eggs, herbs and pimento and toss to blend. When cool, fold in enough mayonnaise to get the consistency you want. Place in a clean bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour to let flavors blend.
*Michelle follows her mom’s lead and always uses “candied dills.” They can be a little hard to find, though.
BLACKBERRY COBBLER
(adapted from Lee Bailey’s Country Desserts)
- 1-1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 4 TB unsalted butter, frozen and cut into bits
- 5 TB solid vegetable shortening, frozen and cut into bits
- 4-5 TB ice water
- 5-6 c. blackberries, preferably the small wild ones
- 3/4 c. sugar
- Additional 4 TB butter, sliced thin
- Several (preferably Demerara) sugar cubes
Place flour and salt in bowl of a food processor with a metal blade. Add frozen butter and shortening. Pulse until mixture is the size of small peas. Add water, pulsing until mixture just begins to form a ball. Be careful not to over-mix. Form into a flattened disc and refrigerate, wrapped in waxed paper, for an hour or more.
Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly grease a deep pie pan or some other approximately 8″ or 9″ ovenproof dish.
On a floured piece of waxed paper, roll dough out into a ragged piece several inches larger than your baking pan. Pick up by paper and invert into the pan, allowing the excess crust to hang over the sides of the pan. Heap berries into the dish. Sprinkle with the sugar and dot with the butter. Turn the sides of the pastry over the top.
Place the sugar cubes in a plastic bag and crush with a meat pounder. Don’t crush them to death—the jagged variations make them particularly good as a topping. Sprinkle over the top of the crust.
Bake for 45 minutes, or more, until top is golden and fruit is bubbling.
Gourmandistan 
It’s our diversity that makes us strong! Both of today’s recipes sound delicious but that cobbler has me considering becoming an ex-patriot and moving to Gourmandistan. 🙂
And if you bring along all those great Italian recipes, you’ll be more than welcome!
I am now free to be hungry. Nice, crunchy post!
Thanks, Rona! And glad to see that you’re able to comment on WordPress again.
Nice post and nice recipes.
Thanks, Karen. Those are both much-used recipes around here. Both actually started with my mom.
Wow, this all looks awesome. I’m free to make and eat it. Happy Fourth!
Indeed! And I know you have lots of blackberries.
I’m really relieved to hear you say that YOUR America is a place where people can be equal and different — sometimes it’s hard to know what American people really think, especially since foreign news (Canada included) only tends to hone in on the most crazy stuff the American media says.
Happy 4th of July! The food looks delicious. 🙂
Thanks so much! Sad to say a lot of them—especially where we live—think as you’ve probably seen on TV. But we’re not all like that. (Oh, and I really liked your recent Canada Day post!)
Good recipes, cool sentiments. Hurrah for the new Americans:)
🙂
We celebrated the Fourth by honoring our Texas roots at a local Mexican place. But had y’all been around the corner, we certainly would have shown up on your doorstep for some potato salad and cobbler, both of which look divine. Wonderful photos, as always.
Aaw, sweet, Sue. Wish y’all had been here!
Your salad and cobbler could not be more perfect for celebrating my friend, they look divine 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks! Do you have wild blackberries in Australia?
Um I am actually not sure but I am certainly hoping somewhere we have crop 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I hope so! They are so good. But I am very glad that Steve volunteered to go after them this year—too many ticks, chiggers, snakes, etc. involved for my taste!
What delicious recipes! The best way to celebrate 😉
How sweet! Thanks for stopping by.
Great sentiments – I hope you had an excellent day 😉
We did, thanks! We weren’t sure, in our neck of the woods, whether the booms we heard were fireworks or gunshots. But otherwise it was a nice, quiet day!
I always thought that it was hysterical about Julia being an OSS agent. Because, as you pointed out, she wasn’t conspicuous at all!
Looks like some excellent 4th of July grub 🙂
Speaking of blowing things up real good, did you read about that fiasco in San Diego? The snafu that made all their fireworks go off at the same time? Must have seemed like a bomb!
When I was in college, somebody asked me about joining the CIA. I was like, “huh???”
Haha! Wait . . . does that mean you joined? Or you didn’t join? Or . . . you can’t tell me, but I knew, you might have to kill me?!
😉
Well, that sounds like the perfect July 4th lineup to me! Hope you enjoyed it.
We did! Though that day off in the middle of the week was a little disconcerting.
That cobbler looks amazing!
It has been many years since we’ve had good wild blackberries here (seems something always goes wrong … too wet, too dry, etc.), so we’ve really enjoyed having it again. A particularly nice gift this horribly hot and dry summer.
Beautiful photo of cobbler you have there, Michelle! Hope you had a smashing fun day and have a great week ahead!
Thank you so much! A week later, I sure do wish I had a bowl!
I love your brand of patriotism! Happy belated Fourth of July!
Not the usual brand around here, but we keep plugging on!
You’re so right about “America”.. I’d like to think we’re like this in Canada as well. I love your recipes and they are very “American” I think 😀
I think you definitely are up there, Smidge! It’s a little more iffy here sometimes.
Equality and the right to be different – three cheers to that! And three chers (well, at four I think) for two great recipes 🙂
Gracias!