The Picnic Cookbook - Tapa blanda

In her follow-up to The Camping Cookbook, Annie Bell gives one of our favourite summertime pastimes a new lease of life. Whether your picnic is a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment decision, has been planned in advance, is for several people rather than just a family, or needs to be a glamorous event, you'll find The Picnic Cookbook packed with practical advice on everything from essential equipment, how to throw together a quality picnic using a mix of store-bought products and homemade foods, to cooking on location and eating outside in cold weather. And with recipes such as Oven-roast Ratatouille, Quinoa Tabbouleh, Maple-glazed Ham, and Leek and Feta Galettes, plus tips on how to partially prepare a picnic at home and then do the rest on site - baguettes can be filled and wrapped in foil at home, then toasted on a portable barbecue, and puddings can be assembled in a large jar - Picnics demonstrates that you can create a mouth-watering outdoor eating experience without spending hours in the kitchen beforehand.

Annie Bell spent several years as cookery writer for Vogue, then as food writer on the Independent. She currently writes for the Mail on Sunday's YOU magazine, and is a contributor to Country Living and Waitrose Food Illustrated. She was winner of the Guild of Food Writers' Cookery Writer of the Year in 2003.