Spanish rice and prawns

For your main meal, try Spanish rice and prawns. You can cook the whole meal in one pot!

You’ll need:

1 onion , sliced
1 red and 1 green pepper , deseeded and sliced
50g chorizo , sliced
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
250g easy-cook basmati rice
400g can chopped tomatoes
200g raw, peeled prawns , defrosted

1. Boil the kettle. In a non-stick frying or shallow pan with a lid, fry the onion, peppers, chorizo and garlic in the oil over a high heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and chopped tomatoes with 500ml boiling water, cover, then cook over a high heat for 12 mins.
2. Uncover, then stir - the rice should be almost tender. Stir in the prawns, with a splash more water if the rice is looking dry, then cook for another minute until the prawns are just pink and the rice is tender.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

If you want to spice things up a bit, try Thai Green Chicken Curry. It’s quick, easy and delicious.

You’ll need:
200g chicken breast, cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon green curry paste
200ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon groundnut oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
zest of 1 lime
juice of half a lime
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
100g jasmine rice, cooked as per packet instructions

1. Heat a wok or large saucepan over high heat and then add the oil. Next add the green curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, ensuring the chicken gets well coated in the curry paste.
2. Add the shallot, fish sauce, lime zest, lime juice, salt and sugar and cook for a
further 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Take the curry off the heat and leave to cool for 1 minute.
4. Serve with the cooked rice.

Spinach and feta filo pie

Spinach & Feta Filo pie is a picnic basket favourite. You can make these the day before.

You’ll need:

2 onions , halved and sliced
butter
2 garlic cloves , crushed
500g spinach , washed and roughly chopped
grated nutmeg
200g feta cheese ,cumbled
2 eggs , beaten
4 large sheets filo pastry

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Cook the onions in a large blob of butter until soft and turning golden. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the spinach in batches and cook until wilted. Cool, then tip into a bowl (leaving behind any excess liquid from the spinach) and mix in the nutmeg, feta, eggs and season with salt and pepper.
2. Grease and line a non stick cake tin, or use a cupcake tray for bite-sized pies.
3. Put the first sheet of filo in the tin and brush with butter, letting the excess hang over the sides. Keep going with the rest of the sheets, turning a little before adding each additional pastry sheet and brushing all over with butter. When all the pastry is used up, tip in the filling and fold over the excess pastry to cover. Butter the top then bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until the filo is crisp and golden. Leave for 5 minutes before turning out.

Cold caramel apple crumble

Cold caramel apple crumble can be cut into bite-sized squares – just perfect for your picnic.

You’ll need:

8 eating apples , peeled, cored and cubed
6 tbsp Carnation caramel (this comes in a can or a squeezy tube)
50g plain flour
50g oats
50g cold butter , diced

1.Heat oven to 200C. Put the apples into a saucepan with a splash of water, cover, then cook over a high heat for 4-5 mins, stirring now and then until just soft. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the caramel, then tip into small ovenproof dishes.
2. Dot small spoonfuls of caramel cream over the apples until only 1 tbsp is left.
3. Mix the flour and oats together, then rub in the butter with your fingers until you have a crumbly mixture. Stir in the remaining caramel, then scatter over the apples.
4. Bake for 18-20 mins until golden and crisp on top.

Berries with orange and vanilla mascarpone

For dessert, try summer berries with orange and vanilla mascarpone.

You’ll need:

a large handful of strawberries, hulled and sliced
a large handful of raspberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 oranges
1 vanilla pod
a small tub of mascarpone
2 shortbread biscuits

1. Put your strawberries in a bowl. Sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the juice and zest of one of the oranges and half the seeds from the vanilla pod. Mix it all together gently then put it to one side while you get everything else ready.
2. Mix the mascarpone with the remaining tablespoon of sugar, the juice and zest of the second orange and the remaining seeds from the vanilla pod. Stir it together really well.
3. Spoon the mascarpone on to each plate. Use the back of a spoon to make a well in the centre and then put the fruit on the top. Drizzle over the juices and crumble a shortbread biscuit over each plate.