Where we have our easter picnics & how to create my easter meringue nests...
I just love having a picnic at Easter time. I think it's just the most exciting time of year, with everything coming into bloom, the lambs in the fields, the birds singing and building their nests and everything coming to life. It's so exciting!
As a family, we often have a picnic on Easter Sunday. We go and have a little bit of an adventure, and a bit of an explore. Sigh and I might hide a few eggs as well! We just enjoy being outside.
During this week’s video linked below, I also walk you through some of my favourite local picnic spots. We’re just so lucky to live in such a beautiful area, and there’s an abundance of places to stop and have a little picnic.
I’d love to use this opportunity to share my 'Perfect Picnic Guide and Recipes' with you all. I created it last year, and it's got some really fun recipes that are great for picnics and for you to enjoy during the spring and summer.
For this weekend only I'm running a discount code for you guys, which is 'ACEaster'. So do hop on over to the Shop section of my website to purchase and use the code ACEaster for an exclusive discount!
The Best Chicken Sandwiches
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
2 spring onions roughly chopped
2 teaspoons of sea salt
2 skinless chicken breasts
12 slices of sliced bread
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 celery stalks thinly sliced
A handful of lettuce leaves
Sea salt and pepper
Lemon
Add the peppercorns, spring onions, salt and chicken breasts to a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 mins then put the lid on the saucepan, take off the heat and leave to stand for 1 hour, this poaches the chicken breast.
In a large bowl add the mayonnaise, sea salt and black pepper to season and a squeeze of lemon juice, slice the chicken and add to the mayo, mix together.
Lay the sliced bread out and place a few lettuce leaves on half the slices, top with slices of the chicken and mayo, place the plain bread on top, cut off the crusts and cut into 4.
The chicken can be poached in advance, mixed in with the mayo and placed in the fridge until ready to assemble.
Easter Meringue Nests
3 room temp eggs
6oz/170g caster sugar
Whipping cream
Icing sugar
Separate your eggs, one at a time, into a smaller bowl. Then tip the egg whites into your mixing bowl.
Whisk your egg whites on a high speed until forming firm peaks. This can take around 3-4 minutes.
Add your sugar one tablespoon at a time. The slower you add the sugar the better!
Once everything is whisked line your baking trays with Bacoglide or greaseproof paper. Have a second tray at the ready in case you fill the other!
Pop blobs of your meringue mixture onto your trays - this will be the base of your nests. You can put them quite close together as meringue don’t spread. Squish it down with the back of your spoon until roughly the thickness of a 50p.
Grab a large piping bag with star-tipped nozzle. Fill your piping bag with as much meringue as you comfortably can. Really push it down into the nozzle. You will need to work relatively swiftly or the consistency of the meringue can change slightly.
Slowly squeeze the meringue from the piping bag and trace the outside of your existing meringue bases to create the nest shape. I like to go around the base twice to create that height.
Put your trays into the oven - the secret to this is to use a cool oven. I use the centre of my AGA’s simmering oven this is around 120-130 degrees in electric.
Check them after 30 minutes and swap the trays around. They will likely need an hour. As soon as you can lift them cleanly from the backing sheet they’re done.
I like to fill mine with whipped cream sweetened with a little icing sugar, then scatter on some mini eggs and chocolate shavings! You could use fruit, berries, whatever takes your fancy!
These can be done way in advance and they store very well in Tupperware for at least a week.
Do you have any favourite picnic recipes? Or Easter traditions? I’d love to hear about them!
Love, Charlie x