Anna never felt more at peace than when she was out on the water like this. Bright blue as far as she could see, with the sky meeting the ocean. A gentle wind helped them drift along. Birds soared overhead, even freer than they were. She watched Dino, slightly ahead of her, watched the muscles on his arms contract as he paddled. She thought of his smooth skin on hers, his hair tickling her cheek, his strong fingers stroking the small of her back. The memories were as crystal clear as the water beneath them.
They glided to a halt, stopping for a moment. The sun shimmered on the water’s surface, dazzling them.
‘Here we are, just you and me,’ said Dino.
‘Here we are.’ She nodded. She could see the dinosaur glinting. She could just imagine the kind of woman who’d given it to him. Someone who thought that by giving him the gift of gold, she would somehow have a hold on him.
‘I missed you,’ he said.
Anna leaned on her paddle and stared at him. ‘No, you didn’t.’
He looked puzzled. ‘What?’
‘You didn’t miss me. I don’t suppose I entered your head until you walked back into Everdene and thought, Oh yeah – the bakery girl was cute. Let’s give her another go.’
‘Anna!’ He looked wounded.
She pointed at him, her rage rising. ‘You think you can walk in and out of people’s lives without giving them a second thought. That they will be there for your convenience. And some of them will be dumb enough to drop everything for you, because you’re golden, Dino. Just like that charm around your neck. But your gold isn’t even skin deep. Underneath you’re hard and cold and selfish. You’re a narcissist. You use people.’
‘Where is this coming from, Anna?’
‘You need to know the truth. Because we all deserve better. All the women who’ve fallen for your good looks, your silver tongue, your magic fingers.’
‘Is this Steph’s influence? I know she doesn’t like me—’
‘No, Dino. It’s me finally figuring out the truth. For myself. There was a moment back there when I could have fallen for you again. But then I remembered how I felt when you left last year. I was devastated. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I thought it was me. I wondered what I had done to deserve being abandoned. I didn’t realise that I’d simply served a purpose for the summer. You’re not doing it to me again.’
‘I just thought … clean break!’ he protested. ‘I hate scenes.’
‘Well, here’s a scene. You’re a jerk, Dino.’ She threw her paddle at him and was rewarded by the sight of him losing his balance as he desperately tried to catch it. As he fell backwards into the sea, she dived neatly off her own board. He could figure out how to get both of his boards back to land.
She powered through the water with the strong crawl she had perfected over the past year. She could feel the cool sea part for her as she made for the shore, keeping her breathing even. The further she swam away from Dino, the stronger she felt. She had survived the court case, she had reinvented herself, she had built up a business that was thriving and beloved and gave other people much-needed work. She was not going to let Dino try to destroy what she had achieved. She wasn’t going to be dazzled by him and fall back into his arms. And she wasn’t going to let him do it to anyone else. She would make sure every girl in Everdene knew how he operated.
She reached the shallows and stood up, striding towards the shore like Ursula Andress in Dr No. She didn’t look back to see if Dino was struggling. She walked straight on up the beach, laughing.
She was a warrior. She was a survivor. She was a total goddess!
PICNIC RECIPES
It was my Irish grandmother who instilled in me my love of picnics. She was the mistress of swooping on everything that was left over in the kitchen and turning it into transportable food, piled into tin foil and Tupperware and then into her shopping basket to be put in the boot of my grandfather’s Rover. We would drive along the winding lanes of Kerry, fuchsia hedges slapping at the sides, watching the round compass on his dashboard swivelling around north, south, east, west until we reached a windy, salt-drenched beach, breathed in the Atlantic and tried to see America. Flasks of soup bulked out with yesterday’s rice, endless boiled eggs, cold sausages, slices of crumbly soda bread thick with butter piled high with roast chicken, date slices, Rice Krispie cakes – you never knew what you might get, but it always tasted delicious in the Irish air, and what we didn’t eat her brace of Jack Russells would eagerly devour.
My picnic love endures, and I light upon any recipe that is easily portable and shareable. Cold chicken, sausages and hard-boiled eggs still remain my standard portable fare, but these are my favourite picnic staples.
Pan bagnat
This traditional French picnic loaf is fantastic as you can customise it to suit your own tastes. The original is based on a salad Niçoise, bulging with eggs and anchovy, but there are loads of alternatives. You can lug it along in the bottom of your basket and produce it as soon as hunger begins to strike. I go for an Italian combination of flavours and textures, but there is no limit.
You can make individual versions of this with small crusty cobs if you want to do a separate pan bagnat for each person, but as picnics are about sharing and the unveiling is rather ceremonial, I stick to a whole one. Most supermarkets these days have a version of the classic French boule.
SERVES 4
1 French boule or cob or round bloomer
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pesto
4 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and cut into strips
2 mozzarella balls, drained and thinly sliced
1 packet fresh basil leaves
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes, thinly sliced
Sea salt
6 slices Parma ham
Cut the top off the loaf about an eighth of the way down – a little lower than if you were cutting a lid for a pumpkin. Put the lid to one side, then scoop the bread from the centre of the loaf until you have a crusty shell about 1cm thick. Save the bread to make breadcrumbs – you could use them for the Parmesan Chicken further on! Baste the inside with the olive oil using a pastry brush, then spread pesto over the bottom.
Now begin a layering process and fill the inside with the rest of your ingredients – you may have to cut some of the slices into smaller pieces to make them fit neatly. Salt the tomatoes well as you lay them in. Repeat the layers until you have reached the top of the loaf.
For a more authentic version, layer up tomato, slices of egg, tuna, olives and anchovy. Or mix it up with a variety of chargrilled vegetables from a jar (aubergine, courgette, mushrooms), your favourite cheese (Brie or Camembert would work well) and cured meats – chorizo, salami, bresaola … Maybe add some crisp green cos lettuce and some cucumber sliced lengthways.
Once you’ve finished your layering, pop the lid back on, pushing it down hard to make sure it forms a seal, then wrap the whole loaf very tightly in cling film – this helps stop the juices from escaping during the pressing phase. Then wrap in tin foil. Sandwich between two wooden chopping boards and place something heavy on top. Leave for a few hours or overnight for it all to compress and for the flavours to develop.
Take one of the chopping boards to the beach with a very sharp bread knife to slice it up.
Spanakopita
This Greek pie is heavenly! Succulent spinach, salty cheese and crispy filo all combine to make the perfect lunch dish, filling but not too sleep-inducing, and it is as gorgeous cold as it is warm. Use the best feta cheese you can find, and not that slightly plastic ‘salad’ cheese. You want crumbly, tangy and salty.
This makes a mammoth version that serves up to ten people, with some left over for later.
SERVES 8–10
2 tbsp olive oil
100g butter
2kg fresh baby leaf spinach
2 bunches spring onions, finely chopped
2 × 250g tubs ricotta
Sea salt to taste
Zest of 1 large lemon
&nb
sp; 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
4 eggs
2 × 200g blocks feta cheese
1 × 250g packet filo pastry
1 tbsp poppy seeds
Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas mark 7.
Melt the olive oil and butter together and pour into a small bowl. You will be using this later to baste the filo and grease your baking dish.
Put the spinach in a colander and pour over boiling water to wilt – you will need to do this in batches unless you have a colander the size of a baby’s bath! I then split the ingredients and do the next stage in two bowls as it’s more manageable. Put half the spinach, the spring onions, a tub of ricotta and sea salt to taste into a large bowl and mix together roughly by hand, massaging the leaves as you go. Add half the lemon zest and dill and 2 eggs and mix everything together thoroughly, then crumble in a block of feta.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients in another bowl.
Use a pastry brush to grease the bottom of a large, 36 × 27cm, enamel or ovenproof dish with the oil and butter mixture. Line the bottom with four sheets of filo, folding them up the sides where necessary and basting each sheet as you go. Then fold a sheet of pastry lengthways over each of the long sides of the dish so that half is lining the dish and the other half is hanging over the edge. Do the same at the short ends of the dish using the short side of the pastry. (The overhanging pastry will be folded back over once the filling is in place.) Brush these four sheets with the butter and oil. Then spoon in the spinach mixture and smooth it out evenly. Fold the four overhanging sheets over the mixture so it’s nicely tucked in. Layer the remaining filo sheets over the top, covering any gaps and basting.
Take a very sharp knife and cut the top layers of filo into diamonds – it is easier to cut the pastry when raw and this will help when you come to slice it to serve. It is fiddly so make sure your knife really is sharp! Sprinkle the top with poppy seeds. Put in the oven and cook for 1 hour until the top is beautifully crisp and golden.
Pissaladière
I’m not sure how authentic this is, but it’s my take on the Provençal classic. With meltingly sweet onions, uber-salty anchovies and punchy black olives, it looks stunning with its criss-cross lattice on top of the tomato.
SERVES 4
1 tbsp olive oil
3 large onions, very thinly sliced
4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, finely chopped
1 × 320g ready-rolled sheet flaky or puff pastry
100g anchovies – 2 tins or from a tub at the deli counter
70g black olives
Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas mark 7.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat and slide in the onions, cooking them down for a good 20–30 minutes until they are sweetly golden. Stir regularly – you don’t want them to brown or burn or dry out. Once the onions have softened, add the tomatoes and cook until the tomato moisture has evaporated – about 10–15 minutes. Put the mixture in a sieve to drain off the majority of the oil and any excess liquid.
Sandwich the pastry between two baking sheets lined with parchment paper to keep it flat and to prevent sticking. Bake the pastry blind for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Spoon the onion mixture over the top, leaving a bit of an edge. Then lay the anchovies nose to tail in a criss-cross lattice on top of the onions. Pop an olive in the centre of each diamond. Slide back into the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cut into squares. It’s delicious eaten warm from the oven but is also wonderful cold if you are taking it to the beach.
Parmesan chicken
The buttermilk makes this chicken melt in the mouth while the outside is satisfyingly crunchy. I have never known any to be left over.
SERVES 4
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
Rosemary sprig, leaves removed and finely chopped
300ml buttermilk
100g panko breadcrumbs (or whizz up some old bread)
100g grated Parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the chicken thighs in half so you have nice chunky pieces. Stir the garlic, lemon and rosemary into the buttermilk then add the chicken. Leave for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas mark 7.
Mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan together. Remove the chicken pieces from the buttermilk marinade and dip them in the crumb mix, rolling them around to coat thoroughly.
Place on a greased baking tray and cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Keep an eye as you don’t want the chicken pieces to dry out – test one of the pieces by cutting into it, making sure it’s cooked through. If still pink, put back in the oven for 10 minutes.
Eat straight away, or cool and transport to the beach wrapped in greaseproof paper to enjoy with your picnic.
Coronation chicken
One of the nicest, plainest things to eat outdoors is a cold roast chicken, perfectly cooked so it isn’t dry, eaten with brown bread and cold butter and a sprinkling of sea salt. There is something old-fashioned in its simplicity. You could have a little sharp rocket or watercress and perhaps some ripe juicy tomatoes on the side.
(To roast the perfect chicken, spread softened butter under the skin then add a sprinkling of sea salt and the zest of a lemon over the skin. Chop the lemon in half and stuff it inside the cavity. Cook at 190°C/fan 170°C/gas mark 5 for 1 hour, then remove and pierce a leg to see if the juice is running clear. If not, return to the oven for another 20 minutes. Leave to rest.)
The picnic queen, however, is Coronation Chicken, rolled out at royal celebrations since its invention for the Queen’s coronation in 1953. The original version devised by Rosemary Hume includes curry powder, chopped apricots and whipped cream and was a work of inspired genius. It has been trotted out over the decades in various guises and lugged to Henley, Glyndebourne and Ascot, doled out at street parties and jubilee celebrations and, although it might seem a groaning cliché, it works every time.
This version is cheatingly quick, both tangy and creamy, and is super-easy to whip up on holiday if you have few facilities.
SERVES 4
1 × 1.5kg rotisserie chicken (most large supermarkets have a hot-chicken counter) or one you have pre-roasted yourself (see above)
250ml mayonnaise
250ml Greek yoghurt
300g mango chutney
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch coriander, finely chopped
Cos lettuce, leaves roughly torn, to serve
Strip the chicken and tear into bite-size pieces. Mix together the mayonnaise, yoghurt, chutney and lime zest and juice. Stir the chicken pieces through the mixture until well coated and season to taste. Sprinkle over the coriander and serve on a bed of crisp light green cos lettuce leaves.
Tortilla
Otherwise known as Spanish omelette, a tortilla is a very handy picnic item, sliced into wedges, equally delicious hot or cold, and you can sling anything that takes your fancy into the egg mixture. This is a useful dish for vegetarians, and if you want to include potato it makes a good filler.
The traditional method is to cook the tortilla in a frying pan and then flip it over to cook the other side, but this takes a little nerve and it can all fall apart or, worse, stick to the bottom. So I prefer to start the cooking on the hob and then transfer the pan (make sure it’s ovenproof) to the oven to cook through and brown slightly on the top.
This recipe is for asparagus tortilla, which is light, bright and nutty in flavour.
SERVES 4 (WITH PLENTY LEFT OVER FOR LATER)
200g asparagus tips
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
8 eggs, beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6.
There is no limit to what you can add: below are a few suggestions. Some ingredients just require blanching; others need to be softened in the butter/olive oil mixture before adding the eggs.
Spring onions, peppers, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese: soften the onions and peppers, add cherry tomatoes, then sprinkle in feta last.
Potato and red onion: slice new potatoes to the width of a pound coin, parboil for 8 minutes then soften the onion and add the potato slices before pouring in the eggs.
Pea and spring onion: blanch the peas and soften the onions.
Chorizo and cherry tomatoes: fry off the chorizo and soften the tomatoes in the pan.
Tomato tarte tatin
I love tomatoes, I love tarte tatin and I love my tarte tatin tin, so this is a really quick and simple picnic treat – although you will probably get tomato down your front at some point while eating it! If you can get tomatoes in a variety of colours, the tarte tatin will look amazing.
SERVES 4–6
500g mixed baby tomatoes – cherry, plum, piccolo
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
A few thyme sprigs, leaves removed
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 × 320g block puff pastry
Flour, for dusting
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6.
A Day at the Beach Hut Page 4
