Thank you for reading Between the Layers! Please enjoy and share this free post with your friends. The Very Best Recipes for Road Trips - No. 289Are not cooked on a Coleman stove. The Baking in the American South book tour schedule IS HERE!! + Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad and a Lazy Daisy Cake
EACH JUNE I THINK BACK on a childhood trip my family took to Portland, Oregon, pulling a new pop-up camper trailer behind our green Rambler station wagon. The destination was my father’s Kiwanis convention, but really this was some ambitious Lewis & Clark attempt to go West and feed U.S. geography to three young daughters. We watched Old Faithful spew and stood in awe at the towering Tetons. We crossed the Continental Divide. We cried in the Omaha heat when chocolate ice cream melted down our arms before we could eat it. But it’s what you don’t see in family photos that’s seared in my memory. Like the blustery evening in Kearney, Nebraska, when my mother was certain we would get swept off the map by a Midwestern tornado or the wild band of motorcyclists circling around the campground. Past midnight, she could stand the drama no longer. She moved sleeping children out of the camper and back into the car and instructed my father to drive us down the road to a rest stop where we slept, or more importantly, she slept, in the car until dawn.
The greater obstacle of our journey became not my mother’s sleepless nights, but the Rambler’s inability to pull mountain roads without overheating. On the way home, my father drove the roller-coaster roads leaving Salt Lake City at dark, to keep the engine cool. And by the time we reached the long, hot flatlands of Kansas, the Rambler decided to take a little vacation of its own. In 116ºF, the air conditioning stopped. My mother turned to us from the front seat and coolly advised us to strip down to our underpants. My dad sold that camper the minute we returned to Nashville. For him, camping and road trips were off the bucket list. But for me, the road trip bug had just bit. I’ve been a fan of packing up and heading out ever since. Maybe that’s why I’m taking such an ambitious trip throughout the South this fall to promote my new book, Baking in the American South. I hope to see you along the way! Here’s the complete book tour schedule.
I’ll wager that at some time this summer you’ll be traveling by car to visit friends or relatives, get away for July Fourth, or just to head to the beach.If so, packing snacks and sandwiches for the trip or making a recipe to take with you and enjoy once you get there makes the journey even sweeter. It got me thinking about foods and recipes that travel well. We know what foods don’t belong on road trips—anything with whipped cream, right?—but what about ones that do because they actually improve in taste en route? So I contacted my sister Susan who is a road trip warrior. She’s racked up knowledge on what recipes weather trips the best, whether you’re heading to mountains, lakes, tailgates, or beaches. And according to Susan, perfect road food falls into one of five categories:
What recipes do you pack for a road trip or summer destination?Here in Nashville, my garden is already coming in! This may be a record year with all the rain and our warm temps. And it’s definitely a pesto summer. Did you miss the pesto recipe I sent to paid subscribers last week? I’ve got some surprises planned for paid subscribers this summer, especially what to do with all the peaches and tomatoes, plus a sneak-peek recipe from my new book. So, if you are thinking of becoming a paid subscriber and supporting my work, now is the perfect time! Have a great week, on the road or at home. - xo, Anne
THE RECIPES: Charlie Bird’s Farro SaladFarro is an ancient whole wheat grain with a nice chewy texture and nutty flavor, and its cooking time depends on the type of farro you are using. I buy the quick-cooking or pearled farro at Trader Joe’s to save time cooking. Farro has been grown for centuries in the mountains of Tuscany, Umbria and the Abruzzi, as it tolerates poor soil, and it feeds people well. The ancient Romans built an empire while eating farro porridge daily. I think I prefer farro salad. Perfect road trip food! I’ve adapted this recipe from one printed in The New York Times. Makes about 6 servings
Note: Quick-cooking or pearled farro will cook in 15 to 20 minutes, whereas unpearled farro takes longer to cook, about 30 minutes. If all the liquid evaporates before the farro is done, add a little more water.
Lazy Daisy CakeThis is one of America's most-beloved sheet cakes, with the classic broiled topping of coconut, brown sugar, and cream. It seems like a real road trip cake to me because it’s retro and loved by all ages. It may be adored because of its catchy name, popular since the 1930s. Did you know the phrase "lazy daisy" was mentioned in turn-of-the-century poetry - "there's something in the lazy, daisy atmosphere" - to describe the fresh, carefree feel of June? Here’s the recipe, from my book, American Cake: Makes 12 to 16 servings
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