Cookbook – explore our seasonal menus and recipes or search the archive

Outdoor eating

The temperature may be rising but these refreshing barbecue dishes will help to keep you feeling cool

• Meat loaf This can be made a day or two in advance. Keep well chilled for a picnic. If it rains, serve it hot at home with mashed potato
• Tomato, mozzarella and mint salad Assemble this at the last minute, and take the dressing to the picnic in a separate container
• Sesame chicken skewers These are delicious served hot or cold. For a picnic, place in a plastic container and keep chilled. Make up to one day ahead
• Roasted red pepper baguette Roast the vegetables and pack into the French bread for easy picnic fare – if it rains, simply sprinkle the vegetables with chopped olives and sunblush tomatoes and serve with the hot meat loaf and mashed potato
• Wild rice and carrot salad Prepare this up to a day ahead. Add the dressing only at the last minute so that the salad remains crunchy
• Peach and redcurrant cake Make this up to two days ahead and store in a cake tin, or serve warm as a dessert
• Spicy prawns This marinade from the Far East also works with chicken, aubergines, courgettes, mushrooms and peppers.
• Stuffed peppers with courgettes and halloumi These tasty peppers, topped with Greek halloumi, are packed full of Mediterranean flavours.
• Jacket potatoes with Eastern minty yogurt Try this easy-to-make topping with an Eastern influence, or you could add an Italian touch to a simple jacket potato.
• Creole slaw with horseradish This is a great variation of the classic barbecue staple, but the addition of the horseradish adds a hot kick.
• Spatchcocked poussin with marinade & roasted garlic Try part-roasting a chicken and then barbecuing it to get that fantastic flavour while ensuring your meat is cooked through properly.
• Barbecued peaches and plums with homemade Italian biscuits Warm summer fruits, drizzled with honey and served with small sweet Italian biscuits, are great served from the barbecue.
• Ginger beer This is delicious, refreshing and packed with zing. For an adult drink, try serving over ice with a measure of gin
• Huntsman's sandwich This sandwich is perfect for a picnic as it is actually squashed in the making method and gets better the more pressure is applied
• Radish, tomato and fennel salad Fennel has a lovely aniseed flavour that is great with the crunch of new season radishes
• Chilled watercress soup, garlic toasts Bursting with seasonal flavour
• Spinach and filo tarts These little tarts are light and tasty – take them with you in the baking tray as it helps to keep their delicate shape