Labor Day Food Ideas

By Food & Wine
Updated December 20, 2016
Yunhee Kim
Celebrate Labor Day with some delicious summer-time foods. Here, our best Labor Day food ideas, from ricotta crostini with three toppings to grilled lamb skewers with mustard onions.
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Fusilli with Summer Tomato Sauce

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For this light, uncooked sauce, you must have perfectly ripe tomatoes. Be sure they're at room temperature, too, not cold. In fact, tomatoes shouldn't be refrigerated at all; chilling permanently reduces their flavor.

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Grilled Antipasto with Garlicky Bean Dip

Credit: © William Meppem
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When Marcia Kiesel grills vegetables, she likes to add unexpected accompaniments, like grilled marinated mini mozzarella balls (called bocconcini) wrapped in anchovy fillets, and garlicky white bean dipped. Served with grilled country bread, this antipasto becomes a light main course. The bocconcini should be eaten hot off the grill, while still soft enough to spread on the bread. To prevent sticking, lightly oil the grate before grilling the bocconcini.

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Potato-and-Wild-Salmon Cakes with Ginger and Scallions

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"I started making these fish cakes to use up leftover bits of salmon and potato," says Sera Pelle, who enjoys them for breakfast or dinner. "But my family began to request them so often, I make them from scratch now."

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Grilled Lamb Skewers with Mustard Onions

Credit: FREDRIKA STJÃRNE
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In keeping with Senegalese tradition, Sean Brock likes to make this dish with all parts of the lamb. But here he calls for just the leg, which is easier to skewer and grills up beautifully.

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Ricotta Crostini with Three Toppings

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Chef Allison Jenkins makes her own ultra-creamy ricotta (you can also use store-bought), then adds different toppings.

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Grilled-Vegetable Pasta with Cumin

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If you're a fan of grilled vegetables, here's a fine way to turn them into a meal. We've selected a combination of eggplant, zucchini, and red bell pepper, but you can replace any of them with another vegetable, such as onions, tomatoes, or mushrooms.

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Sweet Corn Salad with Green Beans and Hazelnuts

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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This is a lovely late-summer salad that can be made almost entirely from produce from the farmers' market. The combination of flavors is clean and crisp: sweet corn kernels, juicy tomatoes, snappy green beans and toasted hazelnuts.

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Vietnamese Green Papaya and Beet Salad

Credit: © John Kernick
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This fantastic Vietnamese salad gets intense flavor from a quick dressing of lime, sugar and fish sauce.

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Grilled Chicken, Tomato and Onion Sandwiches

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Except for the olive-oregano relish, all the components of this chicken sandwich are grilled—the chicken, tomatoes, sweet onion and even the bread—making for the ultimate grilled sandwich.

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BLT Fried Egg-and-Cheese Sandwich

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Thomas Keller's scrumptious recipe combines three of the world's most popular sandwiches--bacon, lettuce and tomato; fried egg; and grilled cheese.

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Barbecued Salmon Sandwiches

Credit: Yunhee Kim
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This barbecue sauce, made with ketchup, cider vinegar, Worcestershire and canned chipotles in adobo, comes together quickly in a blender. The chipotles give the sauce an appealing smokiness.

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