With the weekend fast approaching it is the perfect time to plan a picnic. But forget about the boring potato salad and ham sandwiches chef Christian Pritchard has some better ideas that are delicious and easy to transport.
 

N’awlins Sanggggwich!

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup pimiento-stuffed olives, chopped
  • 1 can (4-1/4 ounces) chopped ripe olives
  • 6 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 loaf (1 pound) Italian bread
  • 1/2 pound sliced deli turkey
  • 1/4 pound sliced Swiss cheese
  • 1/4 pound thinly sliced hard salami
  • 1/4 pound sliced provolone cheese
  • 1/4 pound thinly sliced bologna

Directions
 

  1. In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients; set aside.
  2. Cut bread in half horizontally; carefully hollow out top and bottom, leaving a 1-in. Spoon half of olive mixture over bottom half of bread. Layer with turkey, Swiss cheese, salami, provolone cheese, bologna and remaining olive mixture. Replace bread top. Cut into six wedges.
     

Gazpacho

Ingredients

  • 1/2 English cucumber
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 vine tomatoes
  • 1 hot pepper
  • 1 cup tomato juice
  • 1 T red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper

Instructions
 

  1. Add half of cucumber, half of each pepper and half of onion to a blender (or food processor) and blend until veggies are finely chopped.
  2. Remove from blender and set aside.
  3. Add remainder of cucumber, peppers, and onion and all tomatoes and hot pepper to blender and blend until finely chopped. Add in tomato juice and blend until smooth.
  4. Add in red wine vinegar, sea salt and ground pepper and blend to combine.
  5. Add tomato mixture to chopped veggies and stir until well combined to form a thick, chunky soup.
  6. Place in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to let flavours meld.
     

Salad Nicoise

Ingredients

  • 10-12 small red potatoes, scrubbed and halved
  • 1 pound of green beans
  • ½ cup Nicoise olives
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 1 yellow pwpper, julienne cut
  • fresh basil
  • 4 anchovy fillets (optional)

Dressing

  • 3 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/3 cup of olive oil
  • garlic hopped
  • salt & pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, remove from water and shock with ice water.
  2. Add beans to same hot water boil until crisp but tender, also shock in ice water.
  3. Arrange all cold ingredients in bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.
  4. Cut your basil and then put dressing and basil over top. Toss and serve