Salad Days and Perfect Picnics

The salad can be anything from a light accompaniment or first course to a whole meal. Gone are the days when it meant limp lettuce and woolly tomatoes. Nowadays even fussy children are tempted by salads. They can be made from raw, cooked or partly cooked ingredients, and can be cold, warm or fashionably tiède. The choice is wide. I particularly like chilled salads that have some sizzling ingredient added to them at the last moment.

Picnics, at least the informal ones I am used to, demand not salads but food that can be eaten in the hand and emphatic flavours that satisfy a keen outdoor appetite.