Can't Forget About 4th of July

Given that I was given the day off, I could not ignore the 4th of July. It needed its own celebration and flag cake.

This was a brownie base covered with cream, blueberries and raspberries. Looks good methinks.

This whole idea of flag cakes (see the Canada Day one at Canada Day in Red & White) came from Ina.

Yes, the one and only Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten, introduced to me via a cookbook as gift from one of the somerville kitchen fans (you know who you are - thank you again).

Ina has the most interesting cooking ideas, I am discovering, including those flag cakes. Hers is a more tasty recipe for a sour cream vanilla cake as base. But I have been cooking all weekend and needed to be lazy, so brownies it was. 

Ina also lists a full 4th of July dinner menu including Tuna Tartar, Tequila Lime Chicken and Sagaponack Corn Pudding. Again, I needed to be lazy, so the Tequila Lime Chicken it was.

A really easy recipe. Chicken is marinated overnight in a mixture of Tequila, garlic, lime, and jalapeno peppers. It is quiet intense and you could see the chicken turning white as it soaked in all those ingredients.

The chicken is then grilled. Amazing how all those strong flavours, once absorbed by the chicken, come out very subtle in the taste. The chicken was tender and charred nicely from the outside given the alcohol.

And no, I did not finish the rest of the Tequila bottle as I waited for the chicken to cook.

Given the almost heat wave we were having, somerville kitchen moved again to le jardin, learning from the talented Replacement Chef (see Know It All Borscht). 

Potatoes were roasted, jardin lettuce was picked and mixed with a lime-olive oil dressing and a nice 4th of July outdoor picnic was enjoyed. 

Thank you Ina, Thank you book gifter.