Recipes: The wicker scran

THE SUMMER MONTHS ARE full of events which call for us to take food to be eaten outside, but for which the word "picnic" is altogether too informal.

True picnic occasions tend to be impromptu excursions (usually weather-inspired) with the family going out laden with grilled sausages, chicken legs and wings, buttered buns, a bag of lettuce, a box of tomatoes, potato crisps and tomato ketchup – for our family, obligatory anywhere any time (but it MUST be Heinz).

But the other sort of picnic, the smart type, really begins this month, with school sports' days and commemoration days, and these are followed by theatrical and operatic evenings out, with the same sort of food required. These events call for food which is easily transported – not a problem these days with chill boxes and car fridges – and eaten.

This means avoiding dressed food with the potential to drip down the fronts of your elegantly clothed family. Often, as in the case with my suggested main course, food can be individually packed and served.

My recipe for raisin and fried chopped walnut buttered bread is delicious, with both the double smoked salmon main course and, with a creamy soft cheese, such as brie (seek out and try Channel Islands brie, my favourite of the moment).

The simple pudding, the lemon buttercream sandwiched lemon biscuits are so good eaten with any soft summer fruit, but particularly with strawberries or raspberries.

All of these recipes have one thing in common – for the most part or in total, they can be made or prepared the day before the picnic. The bread, ready sliced and wrapped in its foil packaging, only needs to be heated before departure. The biscuits need to be stuck together with the buttercream, but both biscuits and buttercream can be made a couple of days in advance. So all that needs to be done is to assemble some salads, chill the wine, pack the food and go!

DOUBLE SMOKED SALMON WITH DILL CRÈME FRAÎCHE

I pack these in individual containers with snap-on lids – find them in a good supermarket or hardware shop.

SERVES 6

1lb/450g smoked salmon – we buy from two smokehouses, the Sleepy Hollow, at Aultbea, and the Hebridean Smokehouse in North Uist, both with contrasting smokes. That from Aultbea is light and delicate, whereas the Hebridean smoke is densely peaty. Both are utterly delicious.
1lb/450g hot-smoked salmon, and this we buy from Salar, in South Uist
1/2 cucumber
a handful of dill, chopped
1/2 pint/285ml crème fraiche
1 teaspoon horseradish – I use either Moniack or Isabella's Relishes' horseradish
2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, drained of their preserving brine – I buy the jars of pink peppercorns in either Waitrose or in a good healthfood shop or delicatessen
about 20 grinds of black pepper – no need for salt, the smoked fish contribute enough

Stack the slices of smoked salmon and slice them one way in even-sized strips, then across, to give even dice about 1cm in size. Put this into a large bowl.

Flake the hot-smoked salmon from its skin, into the bowl with the smoked salmon dice.

Peel the cucumber with a potato peeler, then slice it lengthways in half. Scoop away the seeds down the centre of each half, and slice the cucumber into small dice – if you possess a vegetable dicer, this takes seconds.

Put the diced cucumber into the bowl with the two salmon. Add the chopped dill, crème fraiche, horseradish and pink peppercorns, and grind in the black pepper, then carefully – so as not to break up the flakes of hot-smoked salmon – combine everything thoroughly. Divide between the six containers, snap on their lids, and store in the fridge until the point of departure.

RAISIN AND WALNUT BREAD

I learned about the wonderful taste combination of raisin and walnut bread with smoked fish from Francis Coulson, my mentor of so many years until his untimely death. He, with his partner Brian Slack, ran Sharrow Bay Hotel on Ullswater for many years, and he was one of the first chefs in the UK to value and use local suppliers.

8oz/225g butter
1 teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds of black pepper
6oz/170g walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon snipped chives
6oz/170g plump raisins
2 fat French loaves – not the thinnest sticks, the wider ones

Melt the butter in a wide sauté pan, stir in the salt and pepper and fry the chopped walnuts over moderate heat, stirring from time to time, for about 5-7 minutes. Then take the pan off the heat, and stir in the chives and raisins.

Meanwhile, with a serrated knife, slice each loaf lengthways and pull away some of the interior dough. Spoon the buttery raisin and walnuts mixture into each prepared loaf, dividing the buttery mixture evenly, and spooning it evenly down the length of each loaf. Press the tops of each loaf firmly over their filled bases.

Slice each into thick slices, on the diagonal, and wrap each loaf in foil. Put them in the fridge. The morning of the picnic, put the loaves into a moderate oven, 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4, for 20 minutes, still in their foil, then wrap each foil loaf in a tea-towel and pack them in the picnic basket. They should retain some warmth over a few hours' travelling time.

LEMON SANDWICHED BISCUITS

For the lemon filling:

6oz/170g soft butter – I use lightly salted Lurpak for this
6oz/170g sieved icing sugar
finely grated rind of 2 lemons – both well washed and dried before grating

For the biscuits:

4oz/110g soft butter
4oz/110g caster sugar
8oz/225g self-raising flour, sieved with 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 egg yolks
finely grated rind of 2 lemons

Make the buttercream by beating the butter, gradually adding the sieved icing sugar and beating both until creamy. If you have used a hand-held electric whisk for this, now use a wooden spoon to beat in the sieved lemon rinds – the finely grated rinds tend to take ages to pick from the whisks.

Cover the bowl and store in the fridge, but be sure to give the buttercream an hour at room temperature to soften before spreading it on the biscuits to sandwich them.

Make the biscuits by beating together the butter and caster sugar, beating until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Beat in the sieved flour and bicarbonate of soda, adding the egg yolks and beating well, and lastly, beat in the grated lemon rinds.

Form the biscuit dough into even-sized balls, between the palms of your hands – dip your hands in flour from time to time to prevent the dough from sticking too much to your hands – and put the small balls (about walnut sized) evenly spaced onto a non-stick baking tray. Bake in a moderate heat, 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4 for about 15 minutes – the biscuits will be pale golden colour and have spread out from their ball shape.

Leave on the baking tray for a couple of minutes before carefully lifting off (I use a palette knife) onto a wire cooling rack, to cool completely, and then store the cold biscuits in an airtight container, for up to three days.

Assemble by spreading some lemon filling on one biscuit, then sticking another on top, pressing gently. Transport the sandwiched biscuits in an airtight container.