The word 'picnic' comes from the French pique-nique, which can be freely translated as ‘picking at nibbles’. Thus according to its etymology, it’s not very substantial a meal! Originally also it referred to a convivial gathering with everyone bringing food, and in 17th century France, whence it came about, it was an indoor affair. So very much a potluck party rather than le déjeuner sur l’herbe!
Only in the 19th century the French and the British took their food outside to be consumed on blankets spread on the grass, or on camping tables and chairs outside your Vauxhall Astra parked in a public car park.
But however you set up your picnic, the food must be delicious, minimally messy and preferably home cooked. Here’s a small collection of easy to prepare tasty nibbles to pick at.
You might think tabbouleh is a bit too hippie for a good old fashioned English picnic, but you’d be wrong. It’s a delicious and healthy, plus super easy to prepare salad which will be very welcome alongside all the usual pastries and sausage rolls. This recipe is a mix of herbs, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and soaked bulgur wheat, dressed with olive oil and seasoned with Baharat.
Can you imagine a picnic without sausage rolls? I can’t – and these are easy to prepare and invariably the biggest hit of a picnic or a party. These are mini rolls made with puff pastry, filled with chipolata sausages or ham and cheese.
Mini sausage and ham rolls
RECIPE
An appetiser, a dessert or a palate cleanser, watermelon and feta salad is the simplest summery perfection, the salty-sweet combo in the most refreshing form. It is a little messy and you will need disposable forks for this but a sure hit. Tip: whole or half a watermelon is really easy to prepare and much better value than prepacked tubs.
Watermelon and feta salad
RECIPE
You can cook whole ears of corn on the cob and take them to a picnic but corn ribs will be far more convenient. Bake them in the oven, prepare your dukkah, and you can sit the ribs on a bed of dukkah in a container.
Potato salad is another picnic essential. I call mine a spring potato salad because it tastes so fresh, and it’s best made with new potatoes. With radish, gherkins and very light mayo dressing, it’s the taste and flavour of a summer picnic or barbecue party.
Very easy and very delicious bacon wrapped grilled chicken chunks, flavoured with maple syrup. You can use chicken breast or boneless thigh, the latter will need to be grilled a little longer.
Bacon wrapped chicken bites
RECIPE
Instead of stocking up on Greggs pastries, make a puff pastry tart and cut into portions. It will take about five minutes to prepare and twenty to bake. Fig and prosciutto tart with ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry makes a divine snack, even better if made with gorgeous Bursa figs.
Fig and prosciutto tart
RECIPE
Home baked goods are always welcome at a picnic. These roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato foldovers are known as ‘slippers’ because of their shape. You can use both the red roasted peppers and sun-dried tomato paste from a jar and tuck it into simple granary bread dough.
Street food makes good picnic food, obviously, so the Mexican street sweetcorn salad, esquites, is perfect for hampers. Sweetcorn off the cob is cooked in the frying pan, then mixed with a salty, herby, spicy, cheesy dressing. It goes well with pretzels, actually.
Mexican street sweetcorn salad
RECIPE
Something to go with that cold beer on a hot day: homemade German pretzels sprinkled with salt crystals, soft and chewy inside and brown glossy outside. Also very handy with dips and salads.
To be honest, you could just pack a batch of these into your hamper, some cold drinks, and everyone would be happy. My best cheese biscuits with flaky, shortcrust pastry made from scratch are swirled around copious quantity of grated cheese. They are cheesy, crunchy around the edges and phenomenally moreish.
And one more salad of sweet and salty, fresh and crunchy: fresh cucumbers with feta cheese and honey. This is a minimalist version of Greek salad and all the better for skipping tomatoes – less messy and slightly better for your digestion.
Cucumbers with feta and honey
RECIPE