Posh picnic on a budget-Any Ideas??

Verbatim

Chocolate salami is made with crushed biccies, and chocolate melted with butter. I think my recipe has egg yolks too but I've left them out for years, due to slamonella fears, and it works perfectly well without. If anyone wants it I'll fish out the recipe.

rog2

Rice and Pasta salads are both appetising and filling, yet very cheap. Ideal for picnics as they don't go 'limp' like green salads.

misspoppy

Hi

I make open "tarts" a big piece of puff pastry (ready made),with courgette, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes cooked off with pesto then spread on the puff pastry and baked, really nice and quite cheap for a few people

buy the veg on the market its much cheaper so that will help, you could make guacamoli (sp?) 1 avacado bit of lemon juice and 1 clove of garlic whizz it up and serve with veg sticks or crisps again the best place to buy is on the market.

Enjoy the picnic

NekoZombie

potato salad is good - try making it with creme fraiche and thinly sliced spring onions.

Strawbs (in season so cheap) and cava (2.99 aldi) would be pretty impressive too.

myrnahaz

Asda's extra special sugar free, rose grape spritzer (there are other varieties but this is the nicest) is 90p a bottle and is lovely served icy cold in champagne glasses. We often take some with us when we go for picnics and feel really swish drinking pink fizzy stuff out of our paper cups.

PS. it's alcohol free.

pusscat

Falafels in pitta bread with salad and a galic sauce - mmmm

Make foccacia bread and use it as a base for mini pizzas - nice with veggies

Make triangles (or circles with a scone cutter) from black bread (Aldi is great for it - German rye bread) and make a sort of canape (just a bit bigger) - then put on interesting toppings - pieces of salami and mustard (or gherkin slices) or smoked salmon and sour cream (top with some fresh dill) or air dried ham (Aldi are fantastic for Black Forest type ham) mozzerella slices, olive/sun dried tomato and a splash of olive oil, posh BLT - bit of bacon, mini tomato and a letuce leaf, small cocktail sausage and a dollop of mustard, scrambled egg and smoked salmon top with a tiny bit of fish roe or dill again, small grilled field mushroom with garlic butter topped with chopped parsley, cocktail sausage wrapped with bacon (or with a prune like devils on horseback) - millions of possibilities.....

Cous cous with veggies, waldorf salad, bulgar wheat salad with parsley, tomato and onion,

Make your own exotic olives - my favorite at the moment is to get black olives in brine (pitted) about 75p per can from Sainsburys (not the special ones, get cheap!) and to drain them, and put them in a jar with a lid. Fill the jar with a third olive oil (try and get reasonable oil) and 2 thirds balsamic vinegar, the yellow rind of one (unwaxed) lemon - does not matter if it is not a really presentable one, just shred the rind into thin strips (try not to get too much white pith in it) a bit of fresh black pepper, a thinly sliced garlic clove or two and a teaspoon or so of chilli flakes - shake the lot together and leave for a week or so - it's best if you remember to shake the jar every day, but it works whatebver you do (or so it seems!). when you are ready to eat them just fish them out and put in a bowl - just don't store them too long as garlic is not very good at getting pickled! Mine keep for a few weeks though.

Roasted cooled vegetables - whatever is in season (tomato, courgette, aubergine, potato, red onion, white onion etc) roast in some olive oil inthe oven until cooked - great served hot, wam or cold, in sandwiches, salads, on their own, with french stick chunks etc. Nice dressed with a vinagrette dressing too.

nice chilled soup - cucumber, beetroot, viscysoisse (oops spelling!) with melba toast.

sweetcorn fritters (basically pancake batter with tinned sweetcorn and an extra egg in - make them smaller and thicker than pancakes - sort of drop scone sized)

Potoato pancakes - similar to above. Tortilla, fritata, fried polenta with toppings, gnocci with mozzerella, olive oil and a bit of chilli - top with paremesan flakes and serve as a salad.

selection of breads with nice cheeses, pate, cold meats, gherkins, pickles etc.

Best desert is whip up some cream (double or whipping ) to soft peaks, throw in a tub of frozen raspberries (or any other fruit - mixed, fruits of the forest etc, but it is easiest if they are frozen!) and crush some meringue nests (or any other type of meringue - get the special offer broken one!) stir it all together and put in the freezer for a few hours (or until set). About half an hour before you want to eat take it out and leave at room temperature to soften a little (if you are on a picninc then put it frozen into the cool bag - should keep everything else cool, no need for ice packs and should be nicely softened by the time you come to eat it!) serve with fresh mint leaves (or any other green leaves if you have no mint!) and with a nice cold glass of something - never met anyone who does not like this desert.....

That will do for starters - if you want any more ideas then yell - if you can give some idea of what your guests like I will have another think.....


Puss
xx

PS - sorry about any spelling mistakes, I am typing this whilst on a teleconference!

rog2

Are we all invited to this picnic? :rolleyes:

pinkkaz

How about a cream tea! Make loads and loads of scones (soooo cheap) with lashings of jam and cream. Victoria sponge for pudding. Get baking!

fistfullofdollars

Try sainsburys 30 mins before they close. They reduce alot of stuff on their delli counter!

Lots of treats! Yummy!

Sea78

This is fantastic! Thanks for all the ideas everyone - I've offered to help with my mum's food for next sat and will def be doing some of these ideas - any have a great (easy) recipe for scones? I know I could search OS board, but if someone has a tried and tested one I'd be soooo grateful!

Sea xxx