A gourmet picnic
The food is fancy
A gourmet picnic is usually served to enhance an open-air concert, opera festival, or sporting event. |
You usually have lots of advance warning of a posh picnic, which means that you’ll have plenty of time for picnic planning.
This style of event is no impromptu affair! The gourmet picnic should be prepared with the flourish and style demanded by the forthcoming event and setting.
Never mind the little black dress, fashion is now focused on the table – so that means a posh picnic must be beautifully dressed, with a fabulous picnic table cloth and attractive tableware. With elegant table decorations and food garnishes, you can give a new meaning to the idea of dressing for dinner!
Using Cath Kidston prints, you can match cutlery to napkins, tablecloth to cushions, plates to parasols!
If sitting cross-legged on a blanket or picnic rug doesn't appeal, then fold-up table and chairs should be included in your picnic packing.
Remember you are restricted by what you can carry but if you keep things simple but as beautiful as possible (elegant cutlery and fresh flowers) you will still impress your guests.
Use clear crystal or glassware, because wine and champagne don't look that attractive in coloured glasses, and try and use ones with a wide base, which are less likley to topple.
See-through, umbrella type, food covers are a useful addition to the co-ordinating tableware and cutlery. They allow the picnickers to see the beauty of the feast, while keeping out unwanted wasps and flies.
It's little touches like these that will linger in the memories of your guests, long after they've forgotten what they ate on that glorious day.
The menu should feature traditional, as well as contemporary favourites to ensure it is perfect for a special family gathering at the races or a theatrical performance in a garden with friends.
The gourmet picnic must suit the season, the location and the traditions of the occasion but with just a few key components you can quickly create an elegant and inviting alfresco table.
It’s of prime importance that you take into consideration how the food is to be transported and served, not forgetting the
picnic drinks.
Every detail of a posh picnic should be carefully thought out, well in advance. A
list
is more important than ever.
Often the occasion will kick off with
Champagne
or a large glass of
Pimms,
so you need to be well organised or it might all go horribly wrong!
Appearing out of hampers and baskets at a glamorous picnic you’ll often see whole dressed salmon or salmon en croute, beef Wellington, succulent lobster or king prawns, as well as a whole array of other gourmet treats.
A guest at such an event cannot fail to be pleased with such elegant picnic starters as:
- a bowl of hard-boiled, and shelled, quail eggs with celery salt and cayenne pepper to dip them into
- Chilled
asparagus soup
(homemade of course)
- Smoked salmon with caper berries and lemon quarters
- Salmon and trout – or duck – rillettes, or -
potted crab
with toasted mini bagels or pittas
kipper pate
with
watercress
served with a hard-boiled egg (with a soft yolk) and melba toast
- Savoury quiches and tarts – smoked trout & watercress, salmon and asparagus
Then, to follow, a boned and stuffed turkey or perhaps a
home-baked ham
or fillet of beef from Donald Russell with various salads. If you really want the best buy top quality meat from the Scottish butcher online. I guarantee you won't find better. I love cooking steaks now! Great service too.
If you're searching for specialist foods such as foie gras, smoked eel, or fabulous Spanish and Italian ham for your picnic, then try the leading online fine foods retailer - London Fine Foods Group. Much of their product range is found in Harrods, Fortums and Selfridges but at double the price!
Often, in England in the summer, the traditional desert is fresh strawberries bathed in cream but you might prefer an exotic fruit salad, a summer pudding or honeyed grapes in individual crystal glasses.
This could be followed with a platter of carefully chosen cheeses, with crisp celery and oatcakes.
You might like to check out a favorite gourmet site of mine too. The picnic menu page on the gourmet food revolution site will give you additional ideas, along with some tips which will guarantee a perfect occasion, with minimum stress!
If you have no time or inclination to create a gourmet picnic menu yourself, you can always order a hamper from a caterer. This is a trouble-free solution and you can concentrate on enjoying yourself!
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