It was the G man’s birthday last week and he suggested that we have a nice birthday picnic. Usually I would have made a point of cooking and baking a lot of items for such a picnic, but the way things worked out that wasn’t to be. Instead, we bought a mix of super classy and super trashy foods and laid them out all nice on a rug on the living room floor. Even in July, you can’t rely on being able to picnic outside.
We had a board with a wedge of Jarlsberg, a wedge of dolcelatte and a slab of Ardennes pate with mushrooms and peppercorns. We also had a packet of cocktail sausages and the biggest pork pie you’ve ever seen. We had a bowl of crisps – Hula Hoops, to be exact – with the flavours all in the SAME BOWL because that is what you do at a picnic – and a bowl of cheddar crackers. We had some lovely ripe strawberries. Finally, we had a couple of turkey sandwiches on fresh tiger bread (bread that I didn’t make, horrors) and the piece de resistance, a plate of venison bresaola.
If you’ve never had bresaola before, I recommend that you try it at your earliest convenience. It’s a cured meat, like prosciutto, but made with beef instead of ham. In this case, it was made of venison instead of either of those. I think venison is my favourite meat – until I’ve tried them all, I can’t be sure, but it’s certainly up there. I was pretty excited about the bresaola. Look, here it is:
It didn’t disappoint. It was rich in taste, as you’d imagine, and much softer than some other cured meats. Sometimes a cured meat can be really dry and chewy, like a jerky. I don’t dislike this texture; far from it, I actually like food you have to gnaw on, it keeps my teeth in check and stops me trimming them on the bars of my cage. However, this venison bresaola is softer and thicker than other meats – more like a smoked salmon than a prosciutto. A meaty, meaty smoked salmon. It’s good stuff.
I also enjoyed spreading some of the dolcelatte on one of those soft slices of bread and topping with a solitary tomato slice. Blue cheese and tomato is underrated.
So, I do feel a little ashamed of not making any of the things in our picnic spread, but on the other hand it did mean more quality time together and you can’t put a price on that. Right?
July 30th, 2012 at 12:50 PM
That was a lovely picnic, I really enjoyed it. We did good work, there.
It’s a shame we couldn’t have taken it outside in a fancy basket but the stoopid Jet Stream saw to that. Our appetites were in no way suppressed by this!
One supermarket seems to be featuring heavily in the photos; I should perhaps point out that other supermarkets are available. And the bresaola came from elsewhere.
July 30th, 2012 at 1:21 PM
Yes, other supermarkets are available, you are right! It was a lovely picnic, I was glad to share it with you. Awwwwwwwwwww.
July 30th, 2012 at 1:15 PM
I want to come to your picnics! The food looks way awesome, and I don’t see any bugs. Brilliant!
July 30th, 2012 at 1:22 PM
You’re invited!
July 30th, 2012 at 1:49 PM
Another July b-day! Happy birthday to G man! I love the at home picnic!
August 1st, 2012 at 9:23 PM
There are so many! The at home picnic is a bit of a tradition in my family, I remember often going out in the car to find a likely spot only to have the heavens open
July 30th, 2012 at 2:46 PM
I hung on every word in this post! The bresaola looks just like the venison I had at the lovely restaurant you sent me to, and the idea of putting all the Hula Hoops IN THE SAME BOWL blew my mind because they are my favorite chips/crisps in the whole world. I wonder what would happen if you added salt & vinegar peanuts?!?
Tell him we said Happy Birthday, yeah?
August 1st, 2012 at 9:22 PM
I think adding peanuts might be like dividing by zero. I’m never going to risk it. I will pass on your birthday wishes to the G man, keep that celebration going
July 30th, 2012 at 11:26 PM
I underestimated my ability to eat dolcelatte, but am now going to try and eat it with tomato to get the packet finished!
August 1st, 2012 at 9:21 PM
Yep, on some lovely fresh bread it’s an absolute treat!
July 31st, 2012 at 2:04 AM
I’ve decided picnics are even more fun when you can spend your time enjoying special treats and foods with someone rather than spending all your time in the kitchen. Love bresaola…never tried venison, only beef. Looks like a divine picnic!
August 1st, 2012 at 9:20 PM
Yes you could be right, sometimes I do get lost in my kitchen thoughts so it was nice to step away from that and just enjoy the moment