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Picnic pieces
SPICED BEEF MUFFUELETTO WITH HUMMUS DRESSING
Tender beef (use fillet or faux-filet) is marinated overnight with spices, lemon juice and harissa (chile paste), roasted or barbecued rare, thinly sliced and packed inside a flat loaf with hummus and salad. Another variant would be to spread the bread with pesto instead of hummus. Great for a picnic.
Serves 6-8
500g fillet or faux-filet of beef
salt and pepper
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp harissa (chile paste)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 flat, soft loaf about 40 x 30cm (e.g. Arab bread, ciabatta, focaccia or similar)
2 pots (200g each) hummus
a small bag of mixed salad greens (rocket, lollo, watercress etc.)
coriander, parsley and mint, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp vinaigrette
- Mix together the salt, pepper, cumin, harissa, lemon juice and mashed garlic and spread the beef with this mixture
- Cover with foil and refrigerate for several hours or overnight
- Roast or barbecue the beef for 25-30 minutes on a really hot barbecue or in a hot (2200C) oven until crusty on the outside and pink inside
- Allow to cool on a plate. When it is cool, slice it thinly.
- Slice the loaf horizontally and scrape out some of the crumb
- Spread the inside of the top and the bottom with hummus
- Arrange some salad greens and herbs on the bottom and arrange the beef slices on top with any of their juices
- Add the rest of the salad and herbs, sprinkle with the vinaigrette and place the other half of the loaf on top
- Serve in wedges
SALAD OF RED POTATOES, BROAD AND FRENCH BEANS
Serves 10-12
1 kg broad beans (fresh fava beans) in the pod, shelled
400g French beans
1.2 kg red potatoes
2 red onions, finely chopped
Dressing
150ml oil
50ml vinegar
salt and pepper
1 tsp mustard
a pinch of sugar
plenty of freshly chopped mint, parsley and chives
1 egg, optional
water
sea salt
herbs and/or edible flowers to garnish
- Shell the broad (fava) beans, trim and halve the French beans
- Cook them together in boiling salted water until just tender – about 8-10 minutes.
- Drain, refresh in cold water to set the colour and put in a large bowl
- Boil the potatoes until just tender (15-20 minutes), then let them cool a little before slicing quite thickly. (Leave the skins on.)
- Add to the bowl with the chopped red onions
- Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jug, add the egg if wished and blend with a hand-held blender till smooth and creamy. Slacken with a little water if necessary to give a pouring consistency
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss and turn the vegetables in it gently to mix
- Arrange the salad on a nice dish, sprinkle with sea salt and garnish with more herbs, flowers etc.
AUBERGINE, PEPPER AND GOATS’ CHEESE TORTE
WITH BASIL SALSA
We did this one recently as part of the buffet for my daughter's summer wedding at Schumacher College in Devon. The food looked stunning and tasted terrific - all vegetarian as always at Schumacher - and prepared by a huge team of Soph's friends and relations. This one consists of grilled aubergines and roasted/grilled peeled peppers are layered in a cake tin with fresh goats’ cheese and chilled till firm. Serve in wedges with the salsa.
Serves 8-10
3 aubergines
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 ‘Petit Billy’ fresh goats’ cheeses (200g each) or similar
Salsa
1 shallot or small onion
1-2 fresh or dried red or green chillies, stalks and seeds removed
a handful of basil leaves
3-4 firm ripe tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
- Cut the aubergine in lengthwise slices 1 cm wide. Brush them with olive oil, put under the grill (broiler) and cook until golden (or grill them on the barbecue)
- Grill the peppers (or put directly on a gas flame) until thoroughly blackened, put them in a plastic bag to sweat and soften a little
- Rub off the skin under running water
- Put both vegetables in a large shallow dish, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with olive oil and vinegar. Leave to marinate overnight
- Next day, line a springform tin with clingfilm (plastic wrap)
- Layer the vegetables with the sliced cheese until the tin is full
- Bring the clingfilm up over the torte to enclose
- Put a plate on top and a weight on top of the plate
- Set the tin on a plate (it will leak). Refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight
- For the salsa, finely chop the shallot or onion and chillies
- Add the roughly chopped basil and the quartered tomatoes, salt and oil
- Process in short bursts until the salsa is roughly chopped, tip into a little bowl
- Alternatively, finely chop all ingredients and combine them in a small bowl
- To serve, invert the torte over a serving plate, release the clip on the springform and peel away the clingfilm
- Serve the torte with the salsa
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