Picnic pleasures

Green Pesto Turkey Salad with Pine Nuts and Iceberg

This looks and tastes stunning yet takes no time at all to prepare.

(Serves: 4)

• 150ml mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp ready made green pesto
• 2 tsp fresh chives, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 15g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp cold water salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 350g cooked British turkey breast, roughly chopped
• 100g roasted red peppers from a jar, sliced
  
  1) small iceberg lettuce, roughly chopped 10 cherry tomatoes, halved 25g pine nuts, toasted French bread and lemon or lime to serve 1) Place the mayonnaise in a jug with the pesto, chives, parsley, spring onions and half the Parmesan cheese. Whisk in the vinegar and water to make a loose dressing and season to taste.

2) Toss together the chopped turkey, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and pine nuts in a serving bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

3) To serve, pile onto plates and serve with crusty French bread and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

BBQ Turkey Breast with Spicy Rhubarb Glaze

Turkey is great for barbecues because it cooks so quickly and is tender and tasty. Look out for ready-prepared steaks, fillets and cubes perfect for home made kebabs Serves: 4-6

• 4 x 200g British turkey breasts or steaks
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• Spice marinade:
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground turmeric
• Rhubarb glaze:
• 200g rhubarb, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp minced ginger in oil
• 1 tbsp minced lemon grass in oil
• 130g caster sugar
• buttered new potatoes
• watercress salad
  
  Season the turkey steaks and brush with olive oil.

To make the spice marinade, mix together all ingredients. Rub this mixture all over the turkey, patting in well. Place in a dish, cover and chill for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile light the barbecue.

While the barbecue is warming up, place the rhubarb, ginger, lemon grass and sugar in a pan and cook over a low heat until thick and well cooked. Liquidise to a pure.

Divide the rhubarb pure in half, spooning some over the turkey breasts and reserve the other half to use as a dip.

When the barbecue is hot and the coals have turned grey, cook the turkey breasts carefully on both sides for about 6-9 minutes, basting frequently with the rhubarb glaze. Test the breasts are cooked through with a sharp knife.

Serve with the reserved dipping sauce and a few boiled new potatoes and watercress salad.

Turkey & Bacon Club Sandwich with Lemon Mayo

There's nothing mundane about this delicious sarnie. Made this way, it's a meal fit for a king. Don't leave out the lemon mayo this gives it the royal touch Serves: 4

• 12 slices of bread, crusts on
• 200g British turkey breast, cooked and sliced
• salt and freshly milled black pepper
• 8 ripe, baby plum tomatoes
• 1/4 of an Iceberg lettuce, chopped very finely
• 8 tbsp of good quality mayonnaise mixed with juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon
• 8 rashers of dry cured bacon, cooked and crispy
  
  Toast the bread and keep warm.

Mix the iceberg and mayonnaise together and very thinly slice the tomatoes.

Lay 1 piece of toast on a chopping board, spoon on a little lettuce and mayonnaise, top with 2 rashers of bacon and a few tomato slices and a little turkey.

Lay on the next slice of toast, a little more lettuce, turkey and a few more slices of tomato. Make sure you season each layer with plenty of salt and pepper. Repeat this until all ingredients are used.

Cut into triangles and skewer with frilly cocktail sticks, serve immediately.