Fabulous Recipes For The Perfect Picnic

While the supermarkets do a great range of picnic food these days, there is nothing quite like homemade. Here are some of our top recipes that will have your friends coming back for more at your next picnic!

Homemade Sausage Rolls

500g sausage mince or pork mince
1 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
3 tsp fresh thyme chopped finely
1 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg (beaten)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 sheets puff pastry
milk for glazing
sesame seeds
sprigs of thyme

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Mix together mince, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt and pepper. Cut each pastry sheet into three equal-sized pieces. Make a roll of the mince lengthways on each piece. Brush the edges of the pastry on each side of the mince strip with milk. Roll each strip firmly and ensure the pastry is sealed. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds and thyme sprigs. Cut into bite sized and place on baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake until golden brown (approximately 30 minutes)

Watercress and Orange Salad

1 packet watercress
4 oranges
2 tbs good quality virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
salt
pinch sugar

METHOD

Finely grate the zest of two of the oranges. Peel oranges and remove segments from their membrane using a sharp knife. Save any juice that may come out of the oranges during this process. combing orange zest, juice, olive oil, sugar salt and pepper to make the dressing. toss watercress with dressing and then scatter orange segments.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

60g rice vermicelli or rice noodles
8 rice paper wrappers
8 large cooked prawns, peeled, deveined and cut in half
1 1/3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tablespoon fish sauce
100g read made satay sauce
3 tbs hoisin sauce

METHOD

Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and cook rice noodles for 3 to 5 minutes until al dente. Drain and then rinse in cold water. Dip each wrapper into warm water for 1 second to soften then lay wrapper out and place 2 prawn halves, a handful of noodles, basil, mint, coriander and lettuce in a row across the centre, leaving about 5cm of the wrapper uncovered on each side. Fold in uncovered sides of wrapper, then tightly roll to enclose the filling. Repeat with remaining rolls. Mix satay sauce with hoisin and serve on the side of the rolls.

Eton Mess

4 cups of mixed berries (I like strawberries and raspberries)
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp port or strawberry coulis
4 meringue nests
2 cups whipping cream, whipped

METHOD

Cut berries into small bite size pieces and leave to macerate in sugar and port or coulis for 15 minutes. Break up meringue nests into small pieces. Lightly fold together the meringue, whipped cream and berry mix.

Lavender Lemonade

4 litres water
2 cups sugar
8 sprigs lavender (stems and buds), plus additional for garnish
2 cups fresh lemon juice (approx 10 lemons)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (approx 4 limes)

METHOD

In a large saucepan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the lavender sprigs, lemon and lime juices. Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve with additional lavender for garnish.