Lazy Sunday – the ultimate picnic food- a crisp sandwich?

A few Sundays ago, I joined our friends Josh and Lou for a very lazy Sunday boat trip to Windsor, along with a brilliant picnic in a field with a view of Windsor Castle. Sandwich fillings, scones and my ultimate picnic food. What do you think this is? Some home-baked elaborate quiche, an exotic salad? No, my heart beats faster for a crisp sandwich, so today’s blog is in praise of the old-fashioned British picnic and a childhood treat. We had beautiful, fresh baked French Bread, butter, none of that low-fat stuff, cooked meats and cheeses, and packets of crisps, of which my favourite happens to be cheese and onion. I really do urge you to try a hunk of fresh bread, lavishly spread with real butter and cheese and onion crisps inside, it is a little like a more convenience-food version of another old friend, the chip butty. After these and other delights we did treat ourselves to afternoon tea of my home made peach and strawberry jam (See Jams, jellies and infusions), scones and clotted cream.

Scones are reasonably easy to knock up and here is a good recipe for them. They are much better made in a food processor than by hand, as success with these little guys is about minimum handling, the more they are handled, the heavier they get. This makes 15-16 scones

Plain flour 525g/17.5ozs – sifted, I know it’s a pain but it makes them lighter!
8 teaspoons baking powder
4ozs/60g white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons/5ozs/150g unsalted butter
7ozs/200g dried currants or sultanas
8fl ozs milk and 4fl ozs sour cream mixed together
1 egg, beaten.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C/ 180 fan) gas 6 . Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, butter and salt into the food processor and whizz on high speed until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, add the currants then on the lowest speed add the milk and cream until it starts to form large lumps, this should only take seconds . Wash your hands under the cold tap until really cold, and dry them thoroughly. Rub some flour on your hands and then make the dough in to small balls and place on a greased, non-stick baking sheet and flatter the top slightly until they are about 3inches or 5cms across. With a pastry brush, brush the top of the scones with the beaten egg. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are golden brown, not deep brown. Break each scone apart, or slice in half. Serve with butter or clotted cream and a selection of jams – or even plain. They are very good toasted , but oh, that crisp sandwich takes some beating!