4th of July has always been a weird holiday for me being a Brit. That which is being celebrated is essentially my country on the losing side… so I’ve never been one to jump up and down waving a flag – unless the flag was the Union Jack or unless I was celebrating independence in general!  
All that however, has to change this year having just become an American Citizen. My US passport arrived in the mail days ago. So this year I have planned a big party to celebrate the 4th – and have combined it with my daughter’s birthday party. We have a great view of fireworks from our house and our friends always come up to share the evening.

On the menu are many salads – heirloom tomatoes from Liz’s garden with mozzarella and fresh basil from the garden, a chopped veggie creation and hopefully something with Pea tendrils… and then hubby will fire up the grill for Turkey hotdogs, corn on the cob, special wahoo he caught on a fishing trip (check out the picture of him with his fish below), grass-fed filet mignon and other treats.  

For dessert lemon cakes from Valerie Confections with little red and blue stars for the birthday cake – and chocolate mousse in pretty little individual pink glasses – a special request from the birthday girl.
I’m hoping for a fun relaxed evening with friends – and lots of champagne please!
Happy 4th – and happy independence day!
Lucy Lean
Editor, edible Los Angeles
 
From Agatha French:
To my mind, there is nothing better for a Fourth of July celebration than barbequed ribs. LA has quite a few excellent rib joints – Baby Blues in Venice is my go-to spot for a red meat fix on the Westside – but a home barbequed rib is another other animal all together (figuratively speaking anyway).  Crispier, smokier and cooked exactly to your liking, barbequed ribs are a lazy-long-weekend, soul-satisfying thing. 
My mother recorded the following recipe when she first moved out from New York in the sixties, having found a cabin in Echo Park that required a climb down an unpaved trail to reach. She titled the recipe  “California Ribs”, and while it’s really just more of a list of ingredients, I’d never think of replacing it.  Chutney might fill in for the jar of “sweet and sour”, or a dash of vinegar could work its way in, but part of the rib’s magic lies in pulling out that same sauce-stained recipe card time and time again. Perhaps even more than the ribs themselves, it’s the time-honored tradition that seems so patriotic, so red white and blue.
Some people inherit a great potato salad, or a secret recipe for the perfect pie, but if you’re looking for something meatier, you might adopt the following recipe. Go ahead and put your own spin on it…nothing could be simpler for a happy Fourth of July.
California Ribs
Pork loin back ribs
Sweet and sour sauce
Catsup
Onions, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Lemon juice   
Combine all and marinate for a few hours, then grill.
 
From White on Rice Couple Todd Porter and Diane Cu:

 
With summer grilling at an all time high, celebrate the warm weather with grilled desserts. The best way to eat peaches at the peak of summer is eating them fresh and still dripping with fresh sweetness from the tree. But the next best way to consider is grilling peaches to perfect softness and topping them with some crème fraîche . Grilled peaches just melt in your mouth. There is just no other way to describe the amazing sensation of biting into the warm, dripping, slippery, sweet flesh of the peaches. The smoky undertones of the fruit from the grill and the very light honey/balsamic glaze actually heightens the sweet sensations. And add a dollop of some cool crème fraîche with a kiss of lime zest is magical. If your product selection isn’t great for peaches, then nectarines are delicious too.
When using an outdoor grill, add a handful of fresh charcoal to the embers after serving the main course; when it’s time to cook the nectarines, the fire should be at the right temperature. Remember to brush the grill clean before adding the fruit. Sour cream is a good substitute for the crème fraîche
 

Grilled peaches with honey balsamic glaze & creme fraiche
 
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
3 T cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tteaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1 8-ounce container crème fraîche
 
6 firm but ripe peaches or nectarines (halved, pitted)
 
lemon/lime zest
 
Directions:
 
1.Whisk 1/2 cup honey, vinegar, water and vanilla in small bowl.
 
2. Wash and halve peaches, leave skin on. Remove the stone seed.
 
2. Heat barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush fruit generously with glaze. Grill peaches until heated through, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes on each side.
 
3. Arrange 2 grilled fruit halves, cut side up, on each plate. Drizzle with remaining glaze. Spoon some crème fraîche into center or on top of grilled fruit.
 
4. Grate lemon/lime zest for a bright, aromatic citrus punch!
 
From Sienna Spencer:
Holidays equal Food.  At ten years old, I would look forward to the upcoming holiday with a kind of wild anticipation, obsessively fantasizing over the menu I would create for my small family.  Presents?  Sure.  Activities?  That's fine - you can find me in the kitchen.
In my mind, I naturally connected certain ingredients with the theme of the special occasion.  To me, they would tell a story - The Story of the Holiday:  chocolate volcano cupcakes for Halloween (too much cayenne!), an Italian feast for Thanksgiving (you know, for my ancestors...), high tea on Christmas (easy for visiting relatives), Chinese food made from scratch for a high-school boyfriend's birthday (it took all day long and was absolutely awful).  Even the Oscars were an appetizer-lover's event.
This culinary storytelling was linear and logical and obvious to me as I visualized the full holiday meal.  An out-of-place spice or a dish that didn't fit in with the others would disrupt my artistic sensibilities and would create a bothersome gap inside my brain.  I needed total control over the menu and would enlist my little sister, mother, Grammy, and dad as my soux chefs.  I barked out orders - they called me The Sheriff.  
Of course, I had not yet learned how to cook properly and there were many - uh - MANY kitchen mishaps.  Since I often didn't know what the béchamel for the lasagna was supposed to taste like, or what the orange-and-chocolate cookie batter was supposed to look like, I didn't know how to fix it.  But the family was forgiving and we laughed as we went along.  
When I was attending cooking school, I made them my guinea pigs.  I feverishly announced that I would be cooking Thanksgiving dinner - by myself - and drove down to Orange County with the backseat of my Ford Tempo filled with bags of equipment and groceries.  Only half of it turned out to be edible.  I made Mother's Day dinner with recipes I was working on in class, glowing in the praise that my orange-fennel soup and roast chicken garnered from my impressed loved ones.  This year, I scaled Easter down, kept it simple and seasonal:  baked salmon with asparagus and green-onion hollandaise, gratin potatoes, mini pavlovas with berries and vanilla cream.  The whole meal for 10 people cost $140.  Scaled-down can be a good thing.
Last week, while teaching some kids the basics of pancake-making, I suddenly wanted to do brunch.  Yes, that's it!  A Fourth of July brunch!  I began looking up Ruth Reichl's (many) pancake recipes - should I go with the standard white flour?  A combo of white and wheat?  Oh, is that spelt in the cabinet?  But I really should use that buckwheat flour.  What about crepes?  Don't go there.  Might I try pouring the pancake batter on the griddle in my mini-cake molds so they turn out perfectly round and uniform in size?  Yes, I just might!  I'd like to infuse Agave (my good friend is off sugar) with berries to create a flavored syrup - but, of course, you can't have just one...hmmm,,,there's a recipe for a vanilla-brown sugar syrup that looks divine.  Must have bacon.  My other friend does not eat pork.  Must have turkey-bacon.  Fresh fruit - $9 for a bag of local cherries at Whole Foods (they better appreciate that) - and good coffee with nutmeg, cinnamon, and organic milk.  Yes, brunch.  Easy, comforting, and lets me out of the kitchen for fireworks later.  Looks like we have another culinary story!  
 
From Leah Greenstein:
Holidays? You mean I get to celebrate holidays? I spent much of my adult life working holidays. Christmas was a no-brainer. My family is Jewish, so if I wasn't working I was bored. Easter, too. And while the Fourth of July is secular, it was one of the busiest days of the year for businesses in Tahoe, where I lived on and off for a decade. So I worked. Now that I'm free to barbecue, go to the beach or watch fireworks on the Fourth, I get to revive my favorite tradition: the Watermelon Bombe. 
My mother used to make a Watermelon Bombe—sherbet layered in a bowl to look like watermelon when you slice it—every summer. I loved its sweet, refreshing flavors and its creamy richness, and the crunchy surprise of edible "seeds" made from chocolate chips. My mom used store-bought lime sherbet for the rind, lemon sherbet for the white and raspberry sherbet for the center. But since I love making things from scratch, now I'd mix up a pint of homemade pistachio ice cream with it's pale green tinge, a batch of vanilla ice cream and a batch of raspberry sorbet using those gorgeous ruby-colored berries from Pudwill's at the Hollywood Farmers' Market. If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out Carmela Ice Cream (check their website for their farmers' market schedule) —their lime mint or cucumber sorbet would be perfect for the rind, lemon basil would make a tasty white, and the spiced strawberry would offer a surprising, grown-up finish.
To make, just soften the ice ream and spread into layers in a plastic-lined mixing bowl. Stir the chocolate chips into the red layer so they're evenly distributed. Press a sheet of plastic down over the top and freeze until hardened. To serve, turn the bombe out and slice. Your dessert will look like a watermelon and taste like heaven.