the big lunch
Honey mustard potato salad with mint and chives
Sicilian couscous
Penne with courgettes, Parmesan and toasted pinenuts
Carrot cupcakes
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gooey Brownies
Big Lunch BBQ Box
Salad box with selection of dressings
DIY sandwiches
Afternoon tea
Serves 12 for under £13 (12.94)
- 1.5kg salad potatoes
- 50g unsalted butter
- 150g Abel & Cole honey mustard dressing
- 1 bunch of salad onions, sliced into 1/2cm rounds (optional)
- 20g fresh mint, roughly chopped
- 10g fresh chives, snipped
- Freshly ground black pepper
Place the potatoes in a large pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until tender. Drain, toss with butter and honey mustard until thoroughly coated. Set aside to cool completely.
In a large bowl, mix the salad onions (if using) and chopped mint and chives with the potatoes. Season with pepper and serve.
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Serves 12 for under £8 (£7.73)
- 500g wholemeal couscous
- 150g raisins
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- juice and zest from 1 lemon
- ½ tsp fresh ground black peppercorns
- ½ tsp sea salt, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 900ml stock (chicken or veg – homemade or made with stock cube)
- 200g pinenuts, toasted
- 250g baby leaf spinach
Fold raisins, cinnamon, olive oil, salt and pepper through dry couscous in a large pot or dish you can cover. Warm stock to near boiling; pour over couscous and cover for 15 minutes. Fluff. Can be made a day in advance up to this point… When ready to serve, add pinenuts and spinach. Fold through. Serve within 4 hours.
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Serves 12 for under £10 (9.35)
- 500g penne pasta
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
- 2 medium-sized courgettes
- 50g butter
- 50ml olive oil
- 100g pinenuts, toasted
- 100g Parmesan cheese
- 15g fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped just before adding
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Bring a very large or two medium-sized pots of water to the boil. Cook pasta with garlic cloves until the pasta is al dente, and the garlic cloves are tender. Drain, pass garlic cloves through a garlic press or smash on a cutting board with a fork. Mix garlic, butter, olive oil, sea salt and pepper with warm penne.
Wash courgettes and coarsely grate (i.e. grate using the large grater – the type you’d use to grate Cheddar) the courgettes straight into the pasta. Toss through when the pasta is still slightly warm.
Then, finely grate the Parmesan and add along with the pinenuts and basil.
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Makes 12 cupcake-sized cakes, or 18 smaller fairy cakes, for under £9 (8.29)
- 2 large eggs
- 150g brown sugar
- 150ml rapeseed oil
- 200g self-raising flour, sifted
- 3 tsp mixed spice
- 3 medium carrots, coarsely grated
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Finely grated zest of 3 oranges
- 3 tbsp raisins
- 300g mascarpone cheese
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- 75g golden icing sugar, sifted
Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Place 12 paper muffin cases in a muffin tin, or use a shallower fairy cake tin and line with 18 paper cases.
Put the eggs, sugar and oil in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the flour, spice, grated carrot, vanilla extract, half the orange zest and raisins, until thoroughly combined.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cases then place in the oven for 25 minutes (or 20 minutes if making fairy cakes) until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
For the frosting, beat together the mascarpone, orange juice, icing sugar and remaining zest until smooth. Chill until ready to use. Spread liberally over the cooled cakes. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
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Makes about 2 dozen, for under £6 (5.89)
- 170g granulated sugar
- 170g brown sugar
- 225g butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 260g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g dark chocolate bars, broken and cut into bite-sized hunks
Heat oven to 190C. Whip sugar with butter and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Then, fold in the chocolate. Drop by rounded tablespoonsfuls about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, just until light brown (centres will be soft). Cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from sheet. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. You can also freeze part or all of the dough, if you like.
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Chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar and flour – whip it all together, bake and you get the most delightful tea time treat imaginable. Makes two 9x9in pans of 9 – so, 18 brownies in total! For under £12 (11.24)
- 450g dark chocolate
- 200g salted butter
- 10 large eggs
- 400g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp flour
Melt the chocolate with the butter. Separate the eggs - put the yolks in a larger bowl. Whisk the whites until meringue-stiff (tip: using a cold metal bowl will allow them to stiffen up quicker). Whisk the yolks with the sugar. Fold in the flour with a spoon. If the mix is too stiff, add 1 tbsp water. Add the cooled, but still warm chocolate to the yolks. Fold the whites in, 1/3 at a time, whipping them into the mix.
Divide the batter between two buttered 9inx9in square baking tins. Bake at 180C for 25-40 minutes, until the top is set, glossy and slightly cracked. The edges of the brownies will be fully set while the middle will be a bit softer. Take them out of the oven just before the centres set.
Take the brownies out of the oven and allow to cool for another 30 minutes before cutting - otherwise, they'll fall apart when you try to cut them into squares. Slice the brownies in each tin into 9 squares and eat straight away or store in an airtight container in a cool room or in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
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Order . . .
- Big Lunch BBQ Box
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- Finger rolls
- Terrific tomato ketchup
- Seasonal Salad Box
- French Dressing, Abel & Cole
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Order…
- Seasonal Salad Box
Includes selection of leaves and easy veg (tomatoes, spring onion, salad potatoes…) to make the perfect summery salad.
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Dressings:
- Creamy Olive Oil Dressing, Abel & Cole
- French Dressing, Abel & Cole
- Balsamic, Chilli & Garlic Vinaigrette, Abel & Cole
- Honey & Mustard Dressing, Abel & Cole
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Order . . .
- Authentic rolls (plain, poppy seed and/or sunflower seed)
- Smoked or unsmoked ham
- Fish 4 Ever tinned tuna
- Lye Cross mild cheddar
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- Abel & Cole mayonnaise
- Young's wholegrain mustard
- Abel & Cole tomato chutney
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- Baby gem lettuce
- Tomatoes
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Order…
- Authentic scones (plain, fruit or cheese)
- Raspberry and/or strawberry jam
- Devonshire clotted cream
- Kai's lemon drizzle cake
- Equal exchange English breakfast, Darjeeling and/or Earl Grey
plus...
- Poppy seed rolls, organic smoked salmon and Homewood cream cheese
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