This post includes menu details, a recipe for Granny’s BBQ chicken, a step-by-step plan for making the menu come together and tips for a stress-free party. It’s a full toolkit for a great 4^th of July event. Enjoy!

One of my favorite things about the 4^th of July is it almost demands a fun and casual approach to entertaining. Picnics, adventures to watch fireworks, boating, and back yard BBQs are just a few of the ways we get together to celebrate the great freedoms our country affords us. And while I’m not one to shy away from spending the day in the kitchen to prepare for a party, on fun holidays like the 4^th I want a menu that’s relatively fast and easy so I can spend time in the pool, on the lake, or simply hanging out on my porch.

In honor of the great casual summer party, I’ve put together this fun tasty menu that features chicken bathed in my grandmother’s signature BBQ sauce. This sauce is very different from a typical BBQ sauce because it is butter-based instead of tomato-based so it creates a tangy and surprisingly light sauce for the chicken. I grew up with this sauce love to serve it to friends in celebration of the many great cookouts my family hosted when I was growing up. I’ve paired her chicken with a fun bacon-wrapped corn on the cob recipe from the Dean brothers and an easy grilled squash recipe from Cooking Light, both of which take advantage of abundant summer produce that are full of flavor and inexpensive. To round out the meal I suggest the pound cake recipe I posted earlier in the week. It’s easy and made with ingredients you probably already have around the house, and when you top it with seasonal fruit like peaches or berries, it’s bursting with flavor.

This collection of quick summer recipes will help you put together a full dinner for eight in just a little more than a couple of hours (plus a little time the night before to make a cake), including the time you need to set the table and pour the wine. If you can rustle up some help in the kitchen or turn to your guests for some side dish assistance, you can get preparation for this meal down to a little more than an hour.

The Menu (serves eight)

Main Course

Granny’s BBQ Chicken

Indian-Spiced Grilled Baby Squash
double the recipe

Bacon-Wrapped Corn on the Cob
double the recipe

Dessert

Pound Cake with sliced summer fruit

To Drink

Crisp white wine such as Crios Torrontes or Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc

Recipe: Granny’s BBQ Chicken

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 8
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lemons
  
• ½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
  
• ½ c. white wine
  
• 2 Tbsp. honey
  
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• ¼ tsp. salt
  
• 8 chicken leg quarters
  
• Salt and pepper
  

Instructions

• Juice the lemons and add the juice and rinds to a medium saucepan. Add the butter, wine, honey, paprika, cayenne, and salt to the pan.
  
• Bring the sauce ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 5 minutes.
  
• Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Test for seasoning and add more salt or honey as needed. Turn off the heat and let the sauce stand until ready to use.
  
• Preheat the grill or BBQ for indirect grilling.
  
• Season the leg quarters on all sides with salt and pepper.
  
• Place the leg quarters top side down on the hot part of the grill to create grill marks and crisp the skin. Don’t move or turn them for 7-8 minutes.
  
• Flip the leg quarters to the other side and move to the cool side of the grill or BBQ.
  
• Cook over indirect heat for 20 minutes. Baste with the sauce and continue cooking for 15 more minutes, or until the internal temperature of the leg reaches 160 degrees. Baste the chicken every 5 minutes or so.
  
• Remove the legs from the grill and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
  

Keys to Success

• Choose a white wine with little or no oak for the sauce. A big, buttery Chardonnay won’t bring the right level of acidity to the sauce. Opt instead for a torrontes, sauvignon blanc, or similar crisp wine instead.
  
• The butter and honey in the sauce makes it susceptible to burning, so don’t baste the chicken too soon or it will burn. Keep an eye out for flare-ups and squash them accordingly with bit of water from a spray bottle.
  
• This sauce is so easy to make I typically prepare it while I’m doing other things in the kitchen. If you’d like, you can make it 4-5 hours in advance, cover the pan, and leave it to sit on the top of your stove on a cold burner until you’re ready to use it.
  
• My grandmother’s original recipe called for sherry instead of white wine. If you substitute sherry for the wine you can leave out all or most of the honey because the sherry will bring a bit of sweetness to the party that’s necessary to balance the acidity of the lemons.
  

The Plan

I create all of my preparation plans in Excel because I find it easy to work with and to modify as I go. I’ll admit it’s a little over the top for most, but if you’d like to see the detailed spreadsheet I used to get to this plan, you’re welcome to download a copy in Excel or PDF format. The plan has “clean as you go” time built in, so you should have plenty of time to rinse dishes and put them in the washer. You should also have plenty of time to put away ingredients and dump the trash so you aren’t faced with a messy kitchen just before guests arrive.

The night before

• Make the pound cake and prepare the fruit
• Chill wine (or soft drinks or other cold beverages)
• Set out the serving dishes

2 hours, 30 minutes before dinner

• Make the BBQ sauce

2 hours before dinner

• Prepare the squash skewers
• Shuck the corn and wrap it in bacon

1 hour and 20 minutes before dinner

• Heat the grill or BBQ
• Wash, salt, and pepper the chicken
• Put the chicken on the grill to sear

1 hour before dinner

• Move the chicken to indirect heat to finish cooking
• Set the table and pre-pour water or tea if serving

30 minutes before dinner

• Baste the chicken with the BBQ sauce
• Cook the corn
• Cook the squash

15 minutes before dinner

• Move the chicken to a serving platter to rest
• Remove the bacon and husks from the corn then butter it
• Plate the remaining food and serve

30 minutes after dinner is served

• Clear the table (ask for help)
• Make coffee
• Slice the cake and plate the fruit

45 minutes after dinner is served

• Dessert is served

Tips for a Stress-Free Party

This is a casual summer party

• Most of the food on the menu is meant to be eaten with the utensils God gave us – our hands. This does mean things will get a little messy, so plan to offer your guests damp towels or wipes after dinner and be sure you have plenty of extra napkins on the table.
• I like chicken thigh-leg combination cuts for a BBQ because they are roughly the same size and shape so they cook evenly. If you have guests that only eat white meat you can include bone-in breasts as well, or butterfly a couple of whole chickens. If there are kiddos in the crowd, consider using a few chicken legs because they have built-in handles. The chicken legs will cook more quickly than other cuts, so start them about 10 minutes later than the larger pieces.
• If you want to significantly reduce the prep time for this dinner you can either buy sides instead of making them or ask guests to bring their favorite summer sides. When you take the side preparation out of the equation you can have this dinner on the table in about 90 minutes. Make the BBQ sauce while the grill heats and follow the plan as written from the 1 hour and 20 minutes before dinner mark.

And, as a parting note, I’ll leave you with my “stock” (aka best) advice for making any gathering stress-free for you and great for your guests:

• When you set the table and set out the serving dishes, be sure to also set out dessert dishes and forks, as well as coffee mugs. This will make the transition from the main dinner to dessert much easier.
• Run and empty the dishwasher before you start preparing the food so you can load your prep dishes into it as you go. Your kitchen will be neater when guests arrive and it will be easier to ask them to help you with any last minute preparation.
• Ask guests to arrive 15-30 minutes before you plan to serve dinner. By this point in the process most of your heavy prep work will be done and you’ll largely be stirring and checking on the status of cooking dishes. You’ll be able to welcome guests easily and leave some wiggle room for anyone who might be running late.
• You won’t want to abandon your guests while you finish dinner, so consider setting out some olives, cheese, and bread near the kitchen so you can chat with them while you finish cooking. You may want to serve a different wine, or possibly some bubbles, with your pre-dinner nibbles to get everyone in the party spirit.
• If you plan to serve water or tea with your dinner, instead of or in addition to wine, pre-pour the drinks and stash the glasses in the fridge. You can set them out just before dinner is served.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Friends can carry dishes to the dining room, pour wine, or even rinse a dish or two.

Sometimes there is no substitute for simple and easy. Recipes with a few ingredients that work well together and that are almost no-fail simply can’t be beat. My mom’s pound cake recipe is exactly that. It has a short list of ingredients – six to be exact – and with the help of a stand mixer it comes together in a matter of minutes. It does take a while to cook, about an hour, during which time it fills the house with all sorts of wonderful and homey aromas. And it’s a wonderful vehicle for whatever fruits are in season: strawberries, peaches, and blackberries to name a few. It’s also great toasted and topped with grilled pineapple and some fresh whipped cream. Or, cut it into pieces and dip it in chocolate for a fondue. Really – the options are endless. Pound cake is one of the best gifting and potluck foods because it travels well, holds up for several days on the counter, and is a classic favorite that so many people truly enjoy.

In our family cookbook my mom notes that she has used this pound cake recipe for years and even though she’s tried a variety of other recipes, she always comes back to this one as the best and I have to agree. I’ve tried pound cake recipes that incorporate sour cream, whipped egg whites, and all manner of other ingredients.

The bottom line is this cake is easy as pie to make, even if you don’t make desserts. All you need is a mixer (hand or stand) and a bundt pan. You could even make this in one of those fancy new shaped bundt pans from Nordicware for an interesting visual, but it’s not really necessary because the cake’s taste will outshine any trappings of shape or presentation as soon as folks dive in.

Recipe: Pound Cake

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Serves: 16
  
• Prep Time: 25 minutes
  
• Cook Time: 60 minutes
  

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
  
• 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  
• 2 c. sugar
  
• 5 eggs, room temperature
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 2 c. flour
  
• ¼ tsp. kosher salt
  

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt or tube pan well with cooking spray.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing well to incorporate each egg before adding the next.
4. Add the vanilla to the bowl and mix well to combine.
5. Sift or whisk the flour and salt together. Add the flour/salt mixture to the bowl slowly, mixing well to combine. The batter will be thick.
6. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
7. Bake the cake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
9. Ease the cake out of the pan and onto the rack. Let cool completely before serving. The cake will stay fresh for 3-5 days if covered by a cake dome or wrapped in plastic wrap.

Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks

• This recipe has such few ingredients that it pays to use the best ones you can lay your hands on. I typically use King Arthur flour, organic European-style butter, cage-free local eggs, and high-quality vanilla extract. That said, it’s hard to screw up these flavors and my mom made this recipe with margarine for years before we all knew better, so don’t let a lack of high-end ingredients stop you from making this recipe.
  
• You can use loaf pans instead of a bundt pan for this recipe. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and rotate them in your oven once during cooking. These cakes will need less time in the oven, but exactly how long depends on the size of your loaf pans. I’d start checking them at 40 minutes or so. You could also use the baby bundt pans for this recipe but I’d still plan to serve two people with each mini-cake. Watch the cooking time carefully with these smaller pans – start checking at about 30 minutes.
  
• Instead of preparing the pan with cooking spray, you can butter and flour the pan instead. I like to use Baker’s Joy that combines a spray with flour.
  
• It’s really hard to over-mix this cake, particularly when you’re creaming the butter and salt. It’s a great starter recipe for kids who want to make their own cake with minimal adult interference, and if they want to frost it, you can glaze it with a little milk and powdered sugar mixed together.
  
• And while the basic recipe uses only vanilla for extra flavor beyond the sugar and butter, you could easily play around with the basic flavor profile without much concern for mucking up the recipe. I think almond extract and the zest of an orange would be lovely in the cake, while a little cinnamon and nutmeg along with some rum extract would give it a hint of fall flavor. I also think you could nix the vanilla extract and substitute vanilla sugar for the regular sugar for a richer vanilla taste.

What recipe can you think of that can:

• Be infinitely variable in its flavor profiles?
• Be made days, if not weeks ahead?
• Amp up the taste of almost any dish in a tablespoon or less?

While there are probably many answers to this riddle, my favorite one is “compound butter”.

A compound butter is simply a combination of seasonings and usually a bit of acid mixed with softened butter and returned to the fridge to set. I like to role my butters in to logs for easy slicing and a pretty presentation. Michael Ruhlman has a lovely description of compound butters on his blog that really does this simple yet powerful concoction justice. You can put just about any combination of ingredients into a compound butter to compliment the flavor profile of your meal. Parsley and lemon is a classic combination or you can add an Asian flair with ginger and lime. A quick Google search shows that these are just the tip of the iceberg.

I like compound butter as a finish for a meal because it’s one of the fastest paths to a sauce that I know of and, if you’re feeding a group with diverse tastes, you can even prepare two or three butters and let each person pick their poison. Compound butters bring flavor to just about any kind of food, from perfectly grilled steaks to steamed vegetables and even biscuits warm from the oven (think blueberry and lemon or maple and pecan). And of course, compound butters get big points from me because you can make them a couple of weeks in advance and also freeze them as long as you wrap them very well.

Compound butters are also great for building bridges between the different dishes in a meal. Recently, I made a Mexican-inspired green chile and corn squash side to go with a steak. While I would typically finish the steak with plain butter or even a bit of goat cheese, I wanted to tie the steak more closely to the flavor profile of the squash. A chipotle compound butter did the trick. The smoky chipotles complimented the ancho chile powder I used in the squash dish and brought just a bit of subtle heat to the finish of every bite of steak. Cilantro and a bit of lime juice and zest brightened the final compound and helped balance the richness of both the butter and the steak.

Recipe: Chipotle, Cilantro, and Lime Compound Butter

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 8
• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 0 min

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp. minced chipotle peppers stored in adobo sauce
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
• Zest and juice of 1 small lime
• ½ tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a spatula until well mixed.
2. Turn the mixture out onto a piece of plastic wrap and form a log about 4 inches long.
3. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.
4. Slice into ½ inch discs when ready to use.

Recipe for Success

• Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos that won’t burn your mouth. Instead they have a smoky and slightly sweet flavor with a slight heat that simmers on the back of your tongue. You can buy chipotles dried but for this recipe you’ll want the ones that come in adobo sauce in a can. The adobo is a combination of tomatoes, vinegar, and spices that bring extra flavor to the chipotle and keep them soft for easy integration with the butter. You can find chipotles in adobo on the Mexican food aisle of your grocery store or in markets that specialize in Latin foods. You can also buy chipotles in adobo online if you can’t find them locally.
• You can store the butter for up to three weeks in the refrigerator wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. You can store it for up to a month in the freezer wrapped in both plastic wrap and a couple of layers of foil.
• If you or someone in your life doesn’t like cilantro you can substitute parsley.

Learn more about butter