There is something rather lovely about the idea of a shared meal. Not a tasting menu, not a chef’s table experience, not a dinner reservation that requires setting three alarms and sacrificing your firstborn to secure a booking. Just people gathering around food.
That is the thinking behind The Big Lunch, the annual community initiative that encourages neighbours, friends and strangers to come together over a bite to eat. Since launching in 2009, millions of people across the UK have taken part, whether by hosting street parties, sharing dishes in village halls, organising picnics in parks or simply pulling up a chair and getting to know the people who live nearby.
Getting involved is deliberately simple. For some, that might mean closing off the street and hosting a full-blown neighbourhood feast. For others, it could be as straightforward as inviting a few neighbours round for coffee and cake, organising a picnic in a local park, sharing food at a community centre or joining a local event already taking place. This year, The Big Lunch is also partnering with The Big Help Out, encouraging people to pair eating together with community action, whether that’s volunteering for a local charity, helping at a community garden or even organising a litter pick before settling down to lunch. The idea is less about what you do and more about making a connection with the people around you.
Because if there is one thing food does particularly well, it is bringing people together. The best gatherings are rarely remembered for perfect table settings or elaborate menus. They are remembered for conversations that run longer than planned, recipes passed around on scraps of paper and the dish that everyone quietly returns to for seconds.
To mark this year’s Big Lunch, a handful of Britain’s best-loved cooks and chefs have shared recipes designed for exactly that sort of occasion. There is Jamie Oliver’s vibrant grilled courgette and ricotta salad, made for sunny afternoons and crowded tables. Nadiya Hussain offers a nostalgic butter apple cake with a crackly sugary topping. Joe Wicks contributes a practical one-pan quiche perfect for feeding a crowd, while Raymond Blanc’s caramelised shallot and leek tart brings a touch of French elegance to proceedings. And for pudding, Tom Kerridge’s sticky date and banana puddings deliver the sort of comforting indulgence guaranteed to disappear quickly.
Whether you’re planning a full-blown street party, inviting friends round for lunch or simply looking for an excuse to cook something generous and shareable, these recipes capture the spirit of what The Big Lunch is all about: good food, good company and making time for the people around us.
Jamie Oliver’s courgette and ricotta salad
Singing of summer, this is one of those beautiful dishes that’s at its best when made with bang-in-season courgettes and tomatoes. An utter joy.
Serves: 2 as a main or 4 as a side
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
2 large ripe tomatoes
10g shelled unsalted pistachios
125g ricotta cheese
1 lemon
400g baby courgettes
Extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs of basil
Method:
1. Light the barbecue (see “How to set up a charcoal barbecue” below). Grill the tomatoes whole on the hot zone, lid on, vents open, for 10 minutes, or until blackened and softened. Meanwhile, crush the pistachios in a pestle and mortar or finely chop. Beat the ricotta with half the lemon juice, season to perfection and spread across a serving platter.
2. Remove the tomatoes to your board and add the courgettes to the hot zone, halving any larger ones lengthways. Grill for 12 minutes, or until softened and nicely bar-marked, turning regularly with tongs.
3. Meanwhile, scrape away and discard the bigger bits of blackened skin from the tomatoes. Quarter them and remove the core, then, in a shallow bowl, mush them up with a fork. Squeeze over the remaining lemon juice, add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and season to perfection.
4. Transfer the cooked courgettes straight into the tomato dressing and toss well. Pile them on top of the ricotta, spooning over any excess dressing. Sprinkle over the nuts, tear over the basil leaves, and serve. Great as it is, alongside my Classic leg of lamb (page 144), or as part of a bigger spread.
How to set up a charcoal barbecue:
For this recipe you need a 50/50 set up. Simply pile all your coals evenly into one half of the barbecue, leaving the other half clear. This gives you a clear hot zone and cool zone, with a medium area in the middle where you can get the best of both worlds. This set-up is helpful for recipes where you need to sear or get something going over direct heat, but then want to give it time to cook through more gently over indirect heat.
Easy swap:
Feel free to use regular courgettes instead – simply quarter them lengthways before cooking.
‘BBQ’ by Jamie Oliver (Penguin Michael Joseph © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited).
Nadiya Hussain’s butter apple cake
“This is one of the first cakes I ever made. I don’t remember where I saw the recipe, an old cookery book perhaps, or a magazine cutting, but I’ve wanted to recreate it for years and so I finally did. I love the apples in this cake, and the buttery, sugary crust that sits on top at the end. Totally moreish.”
Serves: 8
Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
For the cake:
125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour, sieved
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Medium green apples, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
50g caster sugar
For the butter topping:
60g unsalted butter, melted
60g caster sugar a pinch of salt
Icing sugar, to dust
To serve
Clotted cream
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan. Grease the base and sides of a 23cm cake tin and line with baking paper.
2. Put the soft butter into a mixing bowl with the caster sugar, eggs, flour and nutmeg. Mix everything on a high speed for 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Pour the mixture into the tin and level off the top. Sprinkle on the apple cubes, sprinkle over the sugar, and bake for 25 minutes.
4. To make the butter topping, put the melted unsalted butter and caster sugar into a bowl with the salt, and mix really well.
5. After the cake has had 25 minutes in the oven, take it out, drizzle over the butter-sugar mixture and bake for a further 10–15 minutes.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then remove and leave to cool on a rack.
7. Dust with icing sugar and serve with clotted cream.
‘Nadiya’s Quick Comforts’ by Nadiya Hussain (Penguin Michael Joseph, £28).
Joe Wicks’ one-pan pea and ham quiche
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 40 mins
Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
6 sheets filo pastry
4 large eggs
8 egg whites
35g single cream
200g ham hock
200g frozen peas, defrosted
80g 50% fat cheddar, grated
Salt and pepper
Green salad to serve
Balsamic glaze, to serve
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Use a pastry brush to lightly oil a round cake tin, around 22cm, then lay in the sheets of filo one by one, brushing each sheet with oil before placing the next one. Tuck and scrunch the overhanging edges of the filo together so you have a slightly neater edge. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes until just turning golden.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, egg whites and single cream together in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.
4. Place the ham hock and peas into the part-baked filo tin and pour over the egg mix. Scatter the grated cheese over the top and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the mixture is just set. Leave to cool a little before serving with salad and balsamic glaze.
Tip: This quiche keeps deliciously in the fridge for 3 days so you’re ready to go with some packed lunches for the week.
For more delicious recipes from Joe Wicks, download The Body Coach app.
Raymond Blanc’s shallot, leek and blue cheese tart
“This is a savoury variation of the classic tarte Tatin. Once caramelised, the leeks and shallots become sweet and, when paired with the salty, creamy blue cheese, a delightful dish is made with little effort, and it’s rewarding, too. I created this while working with Saint Agur, and here that cheese is my preference and it’s easily available, although any blue cheese can be used.
“For this sized tart, you’ll need a large ovenproof frying pan or sauté pan (about 24cm in diameter).”
Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 45 mins
Ingredients:
3 banana shallots
2 leeks
½ pack of blue cheese, such as Saint Agur
1 packet of all-butter ready-rolled puff pastry
1 tbsp olive oil
2 pinches of sea salt flakes 2 pinches of ground black pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
2. Peel and trim the top and bottom of the shallots and halve them lengthways. Remove the outer layer of the leeks, trim the top and bottom, chop them into pieces about 3cm thick (similar thickness to the shallots) and rinse.
3. Crumble the cheese into a bowl and keep it in the fridge. Unroll the pastry and place the upturned 24cm frying pan on top – use this as a rough guide to cut out a circle of pastry. (Don’t worry if the pastry extends over the edge of the frying pan; it is only a guide.) Reserve the pastry on a lined tray in the fridge.
4. Pour the olive oil into the 24cm frying pan, then arrange the shallot halves in a star-shaped pattern and fill the gaps with a layer of the leeks (pack them in snugly as they will shrink during cooking). Season with salt and pepper.
5. Place the pan on a medium heat and slowly caramelise the shallots and leeks. This should take about 10 minutes. Once they are golden, remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and let it melt.
6. Remove the pastry from the fridge and lay it in the frying pan on top of the leeks and shallots. With the handle of a dessert spoon, push down the edges of the pastry to surround the caramelised shallots and leeks. Cut a small opening in the centre of the pastry to allow excess steam to escape.
7. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Remove the pan from the oven and leave it to cool slightly.
8. Run a small knife around the edge of the pastry to release it from the pan. Place a large serving plate upside down on top of the pan. Now, in one swift movement, upturn the pan and plate so that the tart is released onto the plate – please be careful not to burn yourself on any juices that may leak out.
9. Sprinkle with the crumbled blue cheese pieces and serve warm, perhaps with a simple garden leaf salad with blue cheese dressing.
‘Simply Raymond Kitchen Garden’ by Raymond Blanc (Headline Home, £26).
Tom Kerridge’s sticky date and banana puddings
“This naughty, boozy pud is one of our pub classics. Sticky, caramelised bananas shine alongside a sweet date pudding, and the easy-to-make toffee sauce served alongside takes it to another level of indulgence.”
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 tbsp softened butter, to grease the dishes
100g plain white flour, plus 1 tbsp to dust
100ml dark rum
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g pitted dates, chopped
85g vegetable suet
85g soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large free-range eggs
For the toffee sauce:
200ml double cream
100g soft dark brown sugar
75g butter
A small pinch of salt
To finish:
2 small bananas
2 tbsp demerara sugar
Method:
1. Brush 4 individual ovenproof dishes (250ml capacity) with the softened butter and dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess.
2. Pour the rum and 100ml water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then take off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda and dates. Pop a lid on the pan and leave to stand for 10-15 minutes to allow the dates to soak up the liquid and cool down.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
4. Tip the dates and liquid into a large bowl and add the flour, suet, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat until evenly combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dishes and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, to make the toffee sauce, pour the cream into a saucepan and add the brown sugar, butter and salt. Place over a low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the heat.
6. Peel and thinly slice the bananas. Once you’ve removed the puddings from the oven, arrange the banana slices, overlapping, around the edge of each dish. Sprinkle the banana slices liberally with demerara sugar and run a cook’s blowtorch over them to caramelise the sugar.
7. Serve the date and banana puddings with the toffee sauce in a jug on the side.
‘Pub Kitchen’ by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury Absolute, £27).
For more information about The Big Lunch, including local events and ideas for getting involved, visit thebiglunch.com
