A Guide to The Grown Up Picnic
July 4th • Posted in Food
Oh, picnics. There’s anything nicer and more summery than spending the morning in the kitchen putting together your favourite portable recipes, filling up a basket and heading outside to eat on the grass? It has been three years that I have had the perfect picnic all planned in my mind (recipes, decor and even what I wanted to wear!) and this Spring I promised myself this year was going to be *the year*!
We have waited for the perfect weather, the perfect peaceful hours and the perfect shadow in the grass to finally put together our very own grown up picnic. I bought sunflowers to make things more summery, prepared lemon infused water the night before, and together we found an old wooden board that served us well to lay out our food on something solid. I tied up some jars with cute ribbons and hanged them to the tree branches and popped in some fresh flowers hand-picked from the garden, and then spent my morning in the kitchen putting together picnic-approved foods from scratch!
Truth is this picnic was planned in every detail since a couple of months (by this crazy lady that’s typing!), but the best thing about it all was putting it together! – so if you’re curious on how to prep a perfect grown up picnic, then read on because I have a full guide for you with three fresh, fancy and vegetarian recipes to try the next time you’re eating on the grass!
French
Cheese Puffs
This recipe is an old favourite and surely not one that’s only appropriate for a picnic, but these little buns were perfect to snack on before moving on to the “main course”. They’re especially good if served with a cheese selection or maybe some spiced olives!
Ingredients:
– 125ml water
– 40g butter
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 70g flour
– 2 large eggs
– 50g grated cheese
– Parsley to taste
Find full instructions here.
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Salmon + Avocado
Burgers
Burgers are the perfect picnic food: so easy and quick to put together, but fresh and great for summertime! And for a grown-up fancy version, we went for the classic but so delicious smoked salmon and avocado combination.
To make:
Slice your burger buns in halves and start with spreading a nice thick layer of mayo (better if tuna-flavoured!). Then slice your avocado (better if nice and ripe) into thin slices and place a few in your buns to create a nice layer. Top off with a layer of Norwegian smoked salmon, a slice of mozzarella cheese and a pinch of both salt and pepper before closing your burger with the top half of the bread!
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Blueberry Vol-Au-Vent
As for dessert, there are so many options between lemon glazed cookies, cheesecakes and chocolate loafs, but for something small and that won’t require any utensil than your hands to eat it, vol-au-vent pasties are always the cuter choice, isn’t it? I created a “blueberry cheesecake” option with mascarpone cream and fresh blueberries to top!
Ingredients:
– 1 roll of ready made puff pastry
– 150g mascarpone cheese
– 1 egg
– 3 tablespoons raw brown sugar
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– Blueberries
Method:
– Firstly, unroll your puff pastry and start cutting medium-sized rounds out of it using the top of a coffee cup as guideline. Then select half of the rounds you created and cut another circle in the middle of them using, this time, the bottom of a coffee cup – this way you’ll be left with half full rounds and half holed rounds.
– Line a baking tray with parchment paper and start placing the full rounds on the bottom with the holed rounds on the top of each. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180°C until they’ve risen completely and they turn golden brown.
– In the meanwhile make the cream by whisking together the mascarpone cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract with an electric whisk until nice and smooth.
– Once the vol-au-vent have cooled down completely, press the middle to the bottom if necessary so that you can easily pop your cream inside. Using a teaspoon portion out the cream into all your vol-au-vent bases and top with a couple of blueberries or other berries of your choice!
I’m Wearing…
Blouse – ASOS (old but similar here) ; Midi Skirt – Zara ; Hat – ASOS ; Ballet Flats – ASOS
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And that’s it! Three easy but impressive picnic recipes I’m sure you’ll love as much as we did!
Any other fans of picnics?! x
