COMPETITION ENTRY: A QUINTESSENTIAL ENGLISH PICNIC By Joe Bloggs The Brief The brief was to design, plan and cook a meal based on one of the following scenarios: 1) To cater for dinner for British athletes prior to an important athletics event. 2) To cater for a special family occasion by preparing traditional dishes from a cuisine, or style of cooking of your choice. 3) To cater for tea at a children s birthday party. 4) To cater for a quintessential English picnic (or give it your own modern twist!) I chose the Quintessential English Picnic scenario as I wanted to plan a fun day out for my friends.we always get hungry when we re having a kick about in our local park so I wanted to make sure we had a feast of a picnic to give us lots of energy for our active day! The main things I had to think about when planning my menu: Transportable dishes making sure the food will stay fresh and travel well to our picnic spot. Theme making sure each dish fits well with the chosen theme by selecting the recipes and ingredients carefully. Balancing the menu providing a well-balanced meal through a range of dishes that compliment each other and are easy to share.
I ve made sure that when you bring all the elements of the lunch together it includes all the important things needed for a balanced meal, including: protein, carbohydrates, and plenty of salad and vegetables. MY MENU AND REASONS FOR CHOOSING IT PICNIC MENU I ve chosen the main dishes because they can be easily cooked and prepared ahead of time and transported easily to our picnic spot. I decided it was important to pick locally sourced food, not only to tie in with my theme, but also to protect the environment and local farmers. I wanted to pick ingredients that are in season so that I m making the best of the produce available. I picked the mint from my window box at home that s as local as it gets! Lunch Roast chicken (higher welfare) with homemade pesto Chopped salad with a jam jar dressing New potatoes with freshly picked mint Sides Feta dip with veg sticks Cheese straws Dessert Scones with clotted cream and jam Chopped salad with a jam jar dressing works well at a picnic as you can chop all of the ingredients before you leave and dress it when you arrive to keep things nice and fresh. I ve chosen cheese straws as they re easy to carry and perfect for sharing both of which are important for a picnic. Veg sticks are good too because they re a healthy snack and can be chopped up beforehand. Scones with clotted cream and homemade jam are quintessentially English, so I thought making a traditional cream tea would be the perfect choice for my theme. I also made sure that all the ingredients were sourced from the UK. Drink Chilled berry smoothies Smoothies are a great healthy alternative to fizzy drinks and contain real fruit which will give us plenty of energy for our football game. It s important to make these just before you leave and pack them with an ice block so that they stay at their best.
PICNIC PLAN I ve chosen plates made from tin and wooden cutlery so that they re lightweight, easy to carry, will avoid any breakages. All food to be packed in a non-breakable, resealable container so that it can be transported without spillages and leftovers can be easily taken home. Food should be preprepared or cut into bite-size portions so that you don t need to carry sharp knives with you. I ve chosen a nice big picnic hamper to carry everything in. Napkins are needed to clean up any mess.
THE RESULT: A SUCCESSFUL PICNIC
Conclusion: Everyone enjoyed the food and thought all of the dishes worked well together. It was great that everything was ready to go within minutes of deciding to sit down to eat. Everyone was amazed at the range of food on offer and commended my attention to detail. I ve learnt that the key to a successful picnic is careful planning and making sure you re totally organised before setting off. There were so many things I would have forgotten if I hadn t have taken time to think things through properly. I really enjoyed the whole experience and am looking forward to the next one (as are my friends). Teacher review: Joe s picnic was a real success! The food was carefully chosen, cooked and prepared to a high standard and included dishes that worked well for a picnic. Joe put a lot of thought into his theme, including taking time to source beautiful, seasonal, local ingredients. His meticulously planning allowed for every eventuality and I was particularly impressed by Joe s beautiful presentation and attention to detail. The feedback fromfriends who attended was extremely positive and they were all extremely keen express how delicious everything tasted. Well done Joe! A. Teacher.