A 30-minute picnic

The sun is such a fleeting object this summer that when it appears, like a king on a royal progress, you feel the need to pay appropriate homage. One of my favourite things to do on those all-too-rare warm and sunny evenings is have a picnic somewhere green (generally Tooting Bec Common, this being the nearest green space to our flat).

By the time I’ve got back from work, time is of the essence if we are not to have a picnic in the gathering dusk. So elaborate feasts are hard to achieve, unless I’ve been organised enough, and confident enough of the weather forecast, to do preparation the day before.

I produced this spread in under half an hour a few days ago when the warm, still evening demanded a meal eaten outdoors. Most of the ingredients were already in the cupboard/fridge/freezer, so I didn’t have to go shopping specially. (Feta cheese, incidentally, is a useful standby ingredient, especially as a packet of it usually has a long use-by date). It’s the kind of meal that requires plates and cutlery, but it feels like a proper meal – and I think it’s reasonably healthy, too.

Apparently the sun is due to reappear on Friday, so be prepared...

I've been a bit vague about quantities here, as I don't know how many people you are picnicking with, or how hungry you are feeling. But these recipes are fairly flexible, and I think you will get the idea.

Green beans with tomato and garlic

Empty a tin of chopped tomatoes into a pan with a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. Add a reasonably generous amount of whole green beans (the kind usually called extra fine beans or something similar). The beans should all be coated in tomato but not overwhelmed by it. Simmer for a few minutes until the beans are warmed through, and until any excess liquid, if any, has evaporated. Add black pepper and torn fresh basil leaves (dried oregano will do if you don't have basil). This dish tastes good at any temperature from room temperature through to hot.

Beetroot, walnut and feta salad 
Take some ready-cooked whole beetroot (not the kind in vinegar. You can use raw beetroot and boil them, in which case small beetroot will work better, but then you might be pushing the time limit).
Scatter some chopped walnuts over and crumble over some feta cheese. Add a handful of rocket leaves (though watercress will do, or even baby gem lettuce leaves). I quite like my salads naked, but if you prefer yours dressed, you could drizzle over some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Variations: A semi-soft goats' cheese might be even better than feta here. Use hazelnuts, perhaps chopped in half, instead of walnuts. Use hazelnut or walnut oil instead of olive if you have some in the cupboard.

Marinated olives 
Take green olives, the kind with stones in, and drain them if they are in any liquid. Place in a small pan with a clove of finely chopped garlic, a little finely chopped or grated lemon zest, some fresh thyme leaves (I used lemon thyme, but normal is fine) and black pepper. Heat gently for a few minutes so the olives can absorb the flavours. Transfer into a container to take on your picnic.
If you’re not keen on green olives, you can use black ones, though I might be tempted to use orange zest instead of lemon and perhaps some cracked coriander seeds instead of the thyme.

Our picnic also included some fresh bread and cherry tomatoes. Some more cheese or some cooked meats wouldn’t go amiss here either.

Dessert was inspired by a visit to the market where they had beautiful peaches that were bursting with juice, the kind that makes you remember what peaches are supposed to be like. I carried them home carefully and triumphantly. There were also English raspberries, so I just sliced the peaches during the picnic and scattered the raspberries over them. The next day at home, I made a proper peach melba. The raspberries were crushed into a sauce, with a touch of sugar and lemon juice, and served with peaches, vanilla ice-cream and a few more raspberries on top. It was delicious, but the simplicity of our picnic version was just as good in its way.

Tapas with a twist

Summer has been so slow in coming in that I had begun to think it never would. So had a lot of other people, judging by the way London revelled in the hot weather today. Shorts and sandals emerged from hibernation, the parks were thronged well into the evening and pavements heaving with drinkers.

There are better places than Camden to enjoy the hot weather, frankly - but that is where I was. Luckily I discovered El Parador, a tapas restaurant with a secret garden out the back, a mere olive-stone's throw from Mornington Crescent tube station.

Their garden was baking in the sunshine and packed with lunchers. I had a good feeling as I read the menu. Sometimes tapas places feel wearily familiar: Spanish omelette/ meatballs/ patatas bravas/ calamari/ mushrooms with garlic/ sardines... you eat it with a yawn. El Parador does serve some of these dishes, but lots of more unusual things too. And some of the old favourites come with a twist that is thoughtful rather than just for the sake of it. Chorizo comes with butter beans, roasted piquillo peppers and brandy. Chicken livers are prepared with with shallots, enoki mushrooms and Iberico ham.

There is a slight tendency to over-list the ingredients: El Parador, you don't need to tell me about the black pepper. But on balance I forgive you, especially as nearly every dish of 40 or more sounds worth eating. (The owners have written a recipe book, too, which isn't a failsafe sign of quality, but suggests enthusiasm and a bit of originality, at least.)

Between the four of us we ate two pots of the broad bean puree, made with confit garlic, rosemary and lots of olive oil, and served unexpectedly hot, with bread. Hummus was never this good. There was roasted butternut squash with spinach, chestnuts and feta, which is every bit as delicious as it sounds. Celeriac was advertised with peas and shallots, which were barely in evidence, but still, it was delicious. Meltingly soft, coated with Manchego cheese, it was a dish to convert even the most reluctant vegetable-eater.

Grilled octopus came as a single tentacle, coiled around the plate. Fishcakes, made with smoked haddock and mash, were unusually soft, but not much the worse for that. We also ate beetroot roasted with red onion and butter beans, Ratte potatoes (a fancy variety of new potato) with cherry tomatoes, leeks and chilli, and a Jerusalem artichoke salad from the specials list with a really excellent dressing.

It's a menu that makes excellent use of the whole spectrum of vegetables, not just the obvious "Mediterranean" ones. So there are parsnips, fennel and curly kale. But there's plenty of meaty stuff too, including grilled quail, spicy lamb fillets, and pork belly braised in cider.

Spices make more of an appearance than they do in most Spanish restaurants, with some dishes showing influences of the Asian-Mediterranean borderlands. Harissa, cardamom and star anise all make appearances.

It's definitely a place to try something unusual. The least original dish we had, the pastries filled with spinach and cheese, was also the most pedestrian. As for the bill, tapas dishes are mostly £5 to £7, with a three-for-the-price-of-two offer on weekday lunchtimes.

If you are anywhere near Camden, you should go. Even if it's not sunny. I can't think of a better way of putting summer on a plate.

El Parador Restaurant
245 Eversholt Street
London
NW1 1BA
http://elparadorlondon.com 
020 7387 2789