Leon Ockenden's summer picnic
Thinking of having a picnic this weekend but fed up of soggy sandwiches and potato salad? Leon Ockenden's back to inspire us to try something a little bit different and ensure we wow our guests this weekend.
Leon's got a sweet treat for the adults with his Pimms cupcakes, and a twist on a picnic favourite, the Scotch egg.
Ingredients
For the cakes250g Butter250g sugar4 eggs250g self raising flour
Fruit mixture1 bunch mint50g caster sugarDash pimms½ cucumber, finely sliced
Icing600g icing sugar100g Butter5 large tbsp Pimms250g Cream cheese, cold300ml double cream, whipped
Method
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy and add the eggs one by one. Fold in the flour until combined.
Spoon into the cup cake cases and bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Before the cup cakes go into the oven, pluck a big bunch of mint and put into a pestle and mortar with some sugar and grind together this will make a mint sugar.
Put a little of this aside for garnish. Chop up some strawberries and macerate them in the mint sugar with a dash of Pimms and a couple of finely sliced cumbers.
Spoon a little bit of this mixture on top of the batter before baking, the mixture will sink in during the baking.
For the icing, combine the icing sugar and butter together and add 5 large tablespoons Pimms. Fold in the cold cream cheese and fold in the whipped double cream.Garnish the iced cupcakes with a bit of the mint sugar and a quartered strawberry.
Scotch eggs with dijon basil aioli
Serves: 6
Ingredients
6 eggs, whole 2 eggs, beaten For the sausage meat: 300g Quality sausage meat300g Black pudding (we will also experiment with Haggis)Small bunch of chives, thyme and parsley, chopped2 finely chopped shallots 2 cloves garlic finely chopped 1large zested and juiced lemon1 large table spoon of Dijon mustard1tsp nutmeg, smoked paprika and ground corianderBlack pepper and pinch of saltI large grated apple
Prepare 3 platesOne with beaten eggOne with plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper One with bread crumbs
Plain flour for dusting Vegetable oil for deep-frying.
For the Dijon basil aioli2 parts mayonnaise to one part Dijon mustard 1 clove of garlic, finely choppedSmall handful of chopped basil
Method
Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the six eggs and remove from heat after 5 minutes. Drain and cover with cold water... peel carefully.
Mix the sausage ingredients together in a bowl and put to one side
Dust your hands in a little flour and flatten a ball of the sausage meet in the palm of your hands
Roll a peeled egg in the flour and place in the centre of the sausage meat and mould the sausage meat mixture around the egg
Roll this in the flour again and shake off the excess flour. Roll the ball in the beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs - to get a good coat repeat this twice. Deep-fry the egg for approximately four minutes. For the aioli mix all the ingredients together.
Serve the scotch egg with the dijon basil aioli.