LOTI COOKS | THE PERFECT PICNIC SPREAD

Whilst we can’t promise sunshine and blue skies, we can promise the perfect picnic spread thanks to London-based duo Emma Cantlay and Lucy Turnbull, aka The Seasonal Supper Club. With a mutual love of outdoor eating and cooking with seasonal ingredients, they’re showing us how to roll out the gingham blanket and load it with perfect picnic recipes.

Forget about the soggy sarnies, we’re talking green pesto orecchiette; pea and pecorino arancini; and a prosciutto, mozzarella and nectarine salad here. Whip ’em up the night before, dig out your wicker basket (whilst keeping your fingers crossed for some warm weather) and head to your local green space to tuck into this lot…

For the Green Pesto Orecchiette
250g of dried orecchiette or other pasta 
A handful (roughly 40g) basil/wild garlic/ rocket or spinach
75ml extra virgin olive oil 
½ tsp Salt 
½ tsp freshly milled black pepper 
1 small garlic clove (omit the garlic if you’re using wild garlic) 
Juice of ½ a lemon 

1. Cook the pasta as per packet instructions, making sure to salt your water. 

2. Once cooked, drain and run under cold water until all the pasta is cold. Tip the cold pasta into a bowl and drizzle with a little oil over it, mix this through to stop the pasta sticking together. 

3. To make your pesto, add all the ingredients to a blender, blend until your preferred coarseness. Taste to adjust the seasoning. 

4. Mix the pesto through the pasta, adding any extra seeds or cheese for some texture if you fancy.


For the Pea and Pecorino Arancini
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
20g butter
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
125g arborio rice 
100ml dry white wine
550ml vegetable stock
150g peas – frozen is fine (100g blitzed to a puree, 50g left whole)
30g pecorino, grated
Half a lemon
1 egg, beaten
50g plain flour
60g breadcrumbs
A neutral oil for frying – vegetable or rapeseed 
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the pan over a low heat, add the oil and half of the butter. Add the shallot, leave to sweat for 7 minutes, add the garlic and cook for a further minute.

2. Add the rice to the pan, keeping the heat super low. Stir the rice and cook for around 3 minutes. Turn the heat up a little and add the wine. Let it cook off before adding the stock. Add a couple of ladlefuls at a time – it should take about 20 minutes of this until it’s fully cooked.

3. Once your rice is fully cooked, stir through the pureed peas, the remaining 50g of whole peas, the remaining half of butter and the pecorino. Stir until fully incorporated.

4. Add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste. Leave the risotto to cool in the fridge for at least an hour until completely chilled – or overnight if you have the time.

5. Add the flour, breadcrumbs and egg into three separate wide, shallow bowls. Season each of the ingredients well.

6. Roll a small handful of risotto (roughly the size of a golf-ball) into the flour, then egg and lastly in the breadcrumbs.

7. Heat around 1cm of oil in a frying pan until hot. Add the arancini into the pan and shallow fry. Do this in batches, not to overcrowd the pan, turning occasionally until they’re golden and crispy on all sides. Place on some kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil.

For the Prosciutto, Mozzarella and Nectarine Salad
60g rocket
1 ball of mozzarella (125g)
40-50g of prosciutto 
1 nectarine
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt

1. Tear up the mozzarella and prosciutto and drape onto the bed of rocket, slice the nectarine into thin wedges and scatter across.

2. Dress the salad with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar. Season with a little sea salt, not being too heavy handed, the prosciutto will already bring a nice saltiness to the dish.

If you like the sound of that lot, make sure you keep your eyes peeled here for the Autumn edition of The Seasonal Supper Club. Until then, you can follow Emma on Insta @mainlybreakfast and Lucy over @lucyrosettelondon for recipes and drool-worthy shots.

Loading...