The Perfect Picnic

It's picnic week, and as we look forward to the weekend, we asked Lisa Fearn who runs ‘Y Sied @ Yr Egin’ café to tell us what her perfect picnic would be . . .

Pass me the sandwiches…it’s picnic week!

A week to celebrate food in the great outdoors, and it’s forecast to be sunny. June is a lovely month, it’s sort of a forgotten month sandwiched between spring and summer, for many it’s exam month, and then summer can truly begin. June is a great month to picnic, not too hot and not too cold.

The long carefree days of our Welsh summer start now. The summer solstice (the longest day on June 21st) has passed, the temperatures have warmed up and we’re rapidly moving into the hottest months of the year and the school summer holidays. With it the excitement of trips to the beach and picnics, barbecues, and alfresco eating in the garden with friends and family. I love these summer months.

So what’s your perfect picnic??

For me picnics mean so many things. Afternoons spent entertaining my young children on blankets in the garden, to picnics on benches in French campsites eating Camembert and baguettes. More recently, our picnics have been more calm and little more upmarket as my now older family have enjoyed summer garden picnics with tables and chairs, table cloths and wine, a far stretch from our days with toddlers in tow. We indulge in far more than a torn up baguette, and in fact, the whole picnic affair is merely the culmination of an afternoon together baking and preparing for our garden feast.

I love an event or a party, something to plan for and to create, and the perfect picnic is just that. A perfect excuse to go full out and create the spectacular, an occasion, and a memory. Food features highly of course, but no more so than the scene itself. The table, flowers, glassware and the lighting are equally important to create that WOW feeling. The perfect picnic rewards you for that extra effort.

On the flip side an impromptu, chuck in a basket and get down to the beach before the crows moment is equally as rewarding. Forget soggy sandwiches, opt for the ‘lets make it there’ approach. Place the bread in the basket, add cheese, pickles, and a sharp bread knife and make your sarnies to order. Don’t forget to add some exciting fruit, a pineapple or melon usually does the trick, but don’t forget the wet wipes or a damp cloth to wipe those sticky fingers!

Whatever you do, don’t feel that you have to spend a fortune. Keep it simple, keep it rustic and keep it safe. By that I mean, if you need to invest in anything, make it a cool box, keep your meats and dairy cold. Some cold cans packed alongside you fillings will keep the temperature cool and you food safe to eat.

Have a great picnic week, and a great summer Lisa x

My favourite recipes…

Well, I guess my picnic tarts have to feature here, and we love making these as daily meals in boxes with salad in our café at Yr Egin – it’s the perfect lunch! Simple little quiches that we’ve made so many times at the cookery school, kids love them (even if they don’t like quiche) and adults love them too. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

250g plain flour

125g butter

1 large egg

a little cold water

Filling

60ml milk

60ml double cream 1 egg (beaten)

Salt and Pepper

Bacon pieces (fried) or ham Seasonal vegetables or fruit;

For the pastry case

Preheat the oven to 200°c

Place the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl, add the butter and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg, and mix to make pastry dough. Press the pastry into a ball, leaving the bowl totally clean!! If you have time, place the pastry in the fridge for 20 minutes

To make the quiche

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface – it should be about 3mm thick

Use the pastry to line a small flan case/tin, or make individual tarts in a muffin tray. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork and then bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200°C.

Beat the egg, add the milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper

Place some fried bacon at the bottom of the cooked pastry cases and add the egg mixture on top, followed by any seasonal vegetables e.g. asparagus / purple sprouting broccoli/peppers / tomatoes/mushrooms

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are set, remove from the oven and allow to cool and store in the fridge until eaten…perfect for a picnic