Having your cake and eating it!: The Great British picnic

The summery weather has finally arrived in England and in true Brits style we all pile outdoors to local parks with the family and the odd dog in tow for a lazy day spent lounging in the sun, playing football with the kids, letting the dogs jump in the lakes chasing the ducks; and of course eating a picnic.

I don't think there's anything much more British than a summers day spent on a picnic blanket soaking up the rays discussing the weather and eating from a picnic basket. Which is where I came up with the theme for the recipe I needed to conjure up for my post in aid of National picnic week which is 17th-23rd June.

When you think of traditional British food you think of Strawberries and Cream, Roast beef, Scones with jam and clotted cream and of course the classic Fish and Chips!

I really wanted to find a way of bringing Fish and Chips into my picnic recipe, the ultimate transportable food, lovingly wrapped in yesterday's newspaper sprinkled with salt and vinegar and eaten al fresco with a plastic fork. Anyone could batter a piece of Cod or Haddock, and put it next to some chips and say there you go, so I needed to put my thinking cap on and came up with this...

Bitter lemon battered River Cobbler with Polenta chips, steamed Samphire and Samphire sauce.

Ingredients for the fish:

3 x River cobbler fillets (skinless and boneless)

160ml bitter lemon drink (very cold)

110g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

Extra flour for coating the fish before dipping in the batter.

For the Polenta chips:

500g pack of Polenta

1 cal cooking spray

Steamed Samphire and Samphire sauce:

500g pack of Samphire

Juice of half a lemon

2 tbsp light Mayo

1 tbsp olive oil

Begin by cutting the River Cobbler fillets into bite size chunks.

Then mix up the batter by sifting the flour and pinch of salt together and mixing in the bitter lemon drink until a smooth consistency is reached.

Coat the bite size chunks of fish in flour and dip into the batter until they are well coated.

Fry the chunks in either a small frying pan with around 1/2 an inch of hot vegetable oil or if you have one a deep fat fryer. Be sure not to over crowd the pan or fryer as this will make the fish stick together and lower the temp of the oil making it take longer to cook. I did mine in several batches. The fish is done when it floats in the oil and the batter is golden brown.

Whilst the fish is cooking, cut the Polenta into chip size strips and coat in the 1 cal cooking spray. I cooked mine in batches in the Airfryer for around 10 minutes each batch at 200c. Though you could do them in a conventional oven at 200c, they will just take a bit longer. The chips are cooked when crisp on the outside.

The Samphire is simply steamed over a pan of boiling water for around 3 minutes until tender. Hold a handful back from steaming and chop up finely before blitzing in a food processor (or use a pestle and mortar like me) to make into a paste. Mix this with the lemon juice, olive oil and light Mayo. This makes a delicious creamy sauce to accompany many types of fish dish.

The Samphire is a delicious edition and well worth looking for in the supermarket to include in your picnic. It is perfectly in season right in time for National picnic week and has a lovely saltiness which works perfectly with most fish.

I chose to use River cobbler as I try hard to use sustainable sources for my food, I want my daughter and future grandchildren to grow up having Cod and Haddock in the oceans. It's also pretty similar to both of those and a whole lot cheaper, the three fillets cost me £3.50 and easily feed 4 people with this recipe.

The Polenta chips were a first for me and I was really pleasantly surprised at the ease of making and also, this being a picnic recipe they will be eaten cold, which I think will work better than cold potato chips.

All that's left is to wrap the components into your newspaper, pop them into your picnic basket and get outdoors enjoying yourself. This recipe with the saltiness of the Samphire, lemony-ness of the fish and scrummy chips will transport you to the Sea Side on a hot day even in your local park!