PICNIC PICKS

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Now that the summer vacations are upon us, there’s a high risk of being bamboozled into taking the kids “somewhere”. Whether it’s because of guilt, emotional blackmail or cabin fever, I predict that soon, despite the heat, you will find yourself planning a picnic or a day of “fun” at an amusement park or the zoo. This will involve

large amounts of sun-block and bravery on your part. This will also involve a good deal of preparation vis-à-vis feeding and watering the children because that’s part of the ‘fun’.
Even in jolly old Britain, a-sprawl in dewy, sparkling meadows, the sun peek-a-booing through the cottonwool strato-cumulus, I’ve never quite understood the joy of eating in the outdoors. It’s even worse at the beach. You’re always waving away flies and wasps or picking sand out of your sandwich. But the kids love it. And we’ve found an excellent compromise — the car-picnic. Possible in all cars except perhaps the electric ones, packing a light breakfast, a flask of tea, some icy drinks and driving to the nearest waterfront is the trip. Once there, we flatten the passenger seat to full recline and mummy turns around to over-see the “table”. The kids squeeze around what’s left of the backseat and we eat and throw a few scraps to the birds. This works even better as a romantic eating out. Throw in a half bottle of wine for the non-designated-driver, take a few posh sandwiches and strawberries and make a CD with all your favourite songs. Drive to sunset. Ah. But for now… some easy kid-friendly picnic eating for the bus, the train or the car or a lovely, real, grassy picnic spot, lucky you.

You can start a conversation with the author about food at http://loveinthekitchenlaughteratthetable.blogspot.com [2]

Bacon Rosemary buns
Rosemary is the bad mama of the herb garden — loud, strong but very sweet. Kids and adults will love the bacon and frankfurter additions to these buns, especially if they’re not allowed them usually. These are best eaten warm but if you’ve got a long drive planned then don’t zap them under the grill. Just wrap them in cling film and they’re ready to go when you are.

Ingredients
8 small buns or dinner rolls
1 cup grated mozzarella
½ cup grated cheddar or parmesan
250 gm smoked bacon or chicken frankfurters
½ cup chopped parsley
3 tablespoons dried rosemary or ½ cup fresh
1 tsp olive oil

Method
Halve the buns and with your fingers, lightly hollow out the centres so that you have small depressions in them. Discard about half the resultant crumbs. Chop the bacon or frankfurters into small pieces (not too small though) and fry with the rosemary till done. When cooked, combine with parsley, cheeses (put some mozzarella slices on top if you want more melt) and crumbs and fill into the hollows of the buns. Toast under a grill for about 5 minutes. Eat immediately.

Herby Puri-Bhaji
Puri-bhaji, like its cousin the aloo-paratha, is classic Indian picnic food. Several of our best travel memories begin with eating my sister-in-law’s aloo parathas on the train to somewhere exciting. In Delhi, en route to a shoot in the mountains, our cameraman’s brother brought a huge pile of aloo and gobi parathas for the crew’s long drive up. Eating them still warm, we all waxed eloquent about the special joys of having a Punjabi mother who could whip up such fluffy “pronthe” while Bhalla blushed and let us eat his share. I really can’t make parathas. But this is regular puri-bhaji with a lovely lemony, herb twist that works well on long journeys and doesn’t leave you with indigestion.

For the puris:
3 cups wheat flour
2 tbs yoghurt
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 tbs ghee (optional)

Method
In a large bowl, mix two and-a-half cups of flour, yoghurt, salt, water and ghee. Knead continuously for about 15 minutes (think of your triceps and how lovely they will be to stay motivated). You could leave the dough to stand overnight but leaving it for about 1 hour will help as well. When ready, flour your rolling pin and a work surface and making small balls of the dough first, gently roll out to a delicate thinness. Cut out circles of the dough with a steel glass for ‘mini’ puris. Heat about 2 inches of oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, test-fry one puri. Spoon oil over it so that it puffs up. Flip over. Drain. Taste and proceed with the rest of the dough.

For the Bhaji:
½ kilo potatoes
1 bunch fresh lemongrass
2 lemons, juiced and zested
½ cup cooked peas, pureed
½ cup chopped basil
Big handful of very fresh coriander
2 tbs chopped fresh mint leaves
10 curry leaves
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbs chopped onion
Green chilli to taste
Pinch of turmeric powder
Salt

Method
Peel the potatoes, chop them into small cubes. Put them in a pan and pour in enough water to cover them by about 1 cm. Throw in the turmeric powder, lemon grass and lemon zest and salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered until the potatoes are cooked. Check now and then to top up the water but don’t put too much extra water in. In another pan, heat oil and crackle the mustard seeds, chillies and curry leaves, then sauté the onion until it’s translucent. Mash the potatoes in with the pea puree, herbs and lemon juice. Taste for seasoning. Allow to cool before packing.

Fruit yoghurt
This is more an idea than a recipe but it’s one the kids love. Pack the best quality jam you can find in small bottles. Some manufacturers make tiny, picnic-sized jam jars. And the best quality jam may well be the jam you make at home one summer holiday afternoon to distract the kids, in which case you may want to follow the recipe below. Besides that, you need small pre-packaged cartons of yoghurt. It’s best you buy the commercial ones because they will stay hygienic longest even without refrigeration. Mix them together and you get a delicious fruit yoghurt that tastes a million times better than that coloured, runny, listless stuff they pass off as a “healthy snack”.

Ingredients
2 cups fresh fruit
Juice of 2 lemons
1 cup sugar

Method
Choose some great fruit. If it’s overripe or slightly squishy, all the better. Your standard rule of thumb is two parts fruit to one part sugar so you can reduce the ratio for a try-out. Berries are safe to start with.
Cut the fruit up leaving some big pieces. Put into a heavy bottomed pan, stir in the sugar and the lemon juice and on very low heat cook it down until it’s all melded, about 20 minutes. Then leave to cool and spoon into a clean, dry jar. Leave in the fridge. Because there are no preservatives, this jam will not last forever so check if it’s been more than two weeks before you hand it over to the kids.

Avocado and Red pepper dip
Dip is good because carrying crudités on a trip is great. Nothing hurts as bad as the after-effects of a long, sedentary trip on which you’ve scarfed down too many chips. But if you pack some cut carrots, cucumbers, fresh, crisp peppers and throw in some bread sticks for relief, a jar of fresh, delicious avocado dip will be very welcome. Don’t salt the vegetables as they will lose water, be messy and taste yuck.

Ingredients
½ cup ripe avocado
½ cup chopped coriander leaves
½ cup roast red pepper puree
1 fresh red chilli
Juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
2 tbs olive oil
½ cup ground walnuts (optional)
Salt to taste

Method
Puree everything together except the coriander leaves which you can mix in to give the dip some texture. Pack in an airtight plastic container and pack the veggies and breadsticks in individual Ziploc bags.