The ultimate picnic

By Daniel Clifford from Midsummer House

Basil purée
2 bunches of basil (remove stalks and keep for strawberry marinade, right)
200ml water
200g sugar

Method
Blanch and purée all the ingredients. Pass through a sieve and chill.
Cr ème anglaise
52g egg yolk (from about 3 eggs)
100g caster sugar
250ml milk
125ml double cream
1 vanilla pod

Method
Whisk together the yolk and sugar. Bring the milk, cream and vanilla to the boil; pour half over the egg and sugar, whisking all the time. Bring the rest of the milk, cream and vanilla back to the boil and pour into the egg and sugar mixture. Heat to 85ºC, stirring continuously. Strain into a bowl over ice.

Bavarois
100g crème anglaise (see above)
3 leaves of gelatine, soaked
200g basil purée (see top)
100ml whipping cream, softly whipped

Method
1. Warm the anglaise and add the gelatine. Add the basil purée and leave to set. Beat to a smooth purée, whip the cream lightly and fold together.
2. Pipe into desired shape; set for 2-3 hours. Serve with marinated strawberries.

Marinated strawberries

Ingredients
1 kilo second-grade strawberries
250g first-grade strawberries
500g sugar
Reserved basil stalks

Method
1. Chop the second-grade strawberries roughly and put into a bowl. Pour the sugar over the top and add the basil stalks. Cover with cling film and set over a bain-marie to gently simmer for 3 hours.
2. Pour off the liquid and chill.
3. Marinate the first-grade strawberries in the liquid for at least 12 hours. Serve with vanilla clotted cream (see below).

Vanilla clotted cream

Ingredients
1 kilo clotted cream
4 vanilla pods, de-seeded

Method
1. Put half of the clotted cream in a pan and heat gently for it to melt.
2. Add the vanilla pods to the melting cream.
3. Put the remaining clotted cream in a bowl and loosely beat, then fold in the melted cream.
4. Leave in the fridge to set for 12 hours.

Midsummer House, Midsummer Common, Cambridge CB4 1HA. midsummerhouse.co.uk

Originally published in the June 2011 issue of British GQ.

Paul Henderson

Paul Henderson is GQ's Health & Sports Editor. He joined the magazine in March 2003 and has written for a host of titles including the Guardian, the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph. As well as writing about sports, he covers food, drink, travel and motoring. This makes him very fortunate and decidedly unpopular.