Crab toasts with samphire, grilled langoustines, chicken salad with melon, and strawberry cream meringue cake… simple seasonal food to eat outside
The perfect summer lunch, for me at least, will involve a table outdoors, but in dappled shade, a group of people who enjoy eating and drinking, and some seasonal food. At the heart of it all will be a handful of recipes using ingredients that hold the essence of the season.
Seafood will always feature in a special occasion summer lunch: crab, perhaps, or possibly wild salmon. There may be Scottish langoustine or Cornish red mullet. Red meat will be kept for cooler days, if there is to be meat. I am more likely to seek out a chicken for a lighter main course.
On my shopping list will be new potatoes to be cooked with their skins on, tiny tomatoes and assorted salad leaves for a lush salad. Guests can expect the appearance of long radishes with white tips, fennel fronds, mint and samphire with its explicit taste of the sea. There will be fruits too, ripe melons, strawberries, apricots and perhaps a vast, crimson-fleshed watermelon. Any of these say summer at first bite.
I am not fond of those occasions where it looks as if the host has tried a bit too hard. That embarrassing need to impress or show off. The food, particularly at a summer lunch, shouldn't be complicated. No one can relax when the food is too highly strung. The scent of grilled seafood and herbs; a refreshing salad; some tiny potatoes with summer herbs and a frivolous dessert of fruit and cream is not too much to ask. Get the food right, and everything else should fall into place.
Crab toasts with samphire and radishes
FOR 12 CANAPES
orange juice of 1
lemons 2
lime 1
red wine vinegar 1 tbsp
radishes 100g
mixed white and brown crab meat 500g
mayonnaise 4 tbsp
baguette 25 thin slices
samphire 24 small sprigs
Squeeze the juice from the orange, lemons and lime into a mixing bowl then add the red wine vinegar. Thinly slice the radishes, then toss them in the dressing and leave, covered and refrigerated, for a couple of hours.
Stir the crab meat into the mayonnaise with a little black pepper, taking care not to over mix. Toast the bread lightly on both sides, then pile with the crab mayonnaise, adding a few slices of radish to each, and a sprig or two of samphire.
Grilled langoustines, rosemary butter
Make sure everyone gets plenty of warm, herb-infused butter and sea salt.
SERVES 6
langoustines 12
butter 200g
rosemary 5 sprigs
thyme 8 sprigs
Split the langoustines in half from head to tail and place them, cut side up, in a shallow roasting tin. Season them generously with salt, pepper and a little melted butter. Place under a hot, overhead grill and cook for 7-8 minutes till just cooked. The flesh should be opaque and juicy.
Remove the langoustines from the roasting tin and place on a large serving plate. Place the tin over a low to moderate heat, add the butter, the sprigs of rosemary and thyme and allow to sizzle for a couple of minutes, till the butter has taken in the flavour of the herbs. Pour some of the butter and herbs over the langoustines, then pour the rest into a small jug and pass round at the table.
Warm roast chicken salad with melon
Chicken, crisp skin, cool melon and a dressing made from the roasting juices.
SERVES 6
chicken breasts, with skin 3
olive oil a little
For the dressing
charentaismelon 1 or a small canteloupe
watermelon 400g
parsley a large handful
olive oil 80ml
sherry vinegar 3 tbsp
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Pour a little olive oil over the chicken breasts, then season them generously with salt and pepper and roast for about 30-40 minutes till the skin is crispy.
While the chicken is roasting, halve the charentais melon and discard the seeds, then remove the flesh from the skin with a sharp knife and slice into thick, juicy pieces, putting them and any juice into a large mixing bowl.
Cut the watermelon into large chunks, removing the skin and as many of the seeds as you can.
Make the dressing. Blitz the parsley leaves in a blender with the olive oil and sherry vinegar. Remove the chicken from the oven, set aside to rest, then pour the dressing into the roasting tin, stirring to dissolve all the sediment and pan stickings from the tin.
A little heat under the pan will help, but don't let the dressing boil. Season carefully.
Tear the warm chicken into large rough-edged pieces and add to the melon. Pour the warm dressing over and gently turn the melon and chicken to coat.
New potatoes, butter and fennel tops
SERVES 6
new potatoes 1kg
butter 75g
fennel fronds a couple of handfuls
Boil the potatoes in deep, salted water till quite soft, a little softer than usual. Melt the butter in a pan, chop the fennel fronds and add to the butter.
Drain the potatoes, then squeeze each one hard to break them open. Toss the potatoes in the fennel butter.
Strawberry cream meringue cake
SERVES 6-8
double cream 300ml
lemon curd 200g
strawberries 250g
ripe apricots 6
meringues 200g
You will also need
a cake tin 20cm x 10cm x 8cm high
Whip the cream to soft folds with a balloon whisk, then tenderly fold in the lemon curd, leaving streaks of curd visible through the cream. Avoid the temptation to over mix. Halve the strawberries. Halve, stone and quarter the apricots. Crush the meringues into small pieces with your hands then very gently fold the meringues, fruits and cream together.
Line the cake tin with clingfilm, leaving enough overhanging to fold over after filling. Spoon the meringue mixture into the tin, pushing the filling well down into the corners. Fold the clingfilm over the top and press down lightly to remove any air pockets. Freeze for at least 4 hours, but preferably not overnight. Slice thickly.