National Picnic Week couldn't come at a better time as the weather is scorching, making eating al fresco all the more appealing.

To celebrate the foodie event we've handpicked some delightful recipes for you to make.

The dishes include classics like Scotch eggs, and sausage rolls as well as more contemporary recipes like raspberry ripple marshmallow brownies.

So grab yourself a basket, a bottle of Pimm's and something to sit on because we're going on a picnic!

Perfect pickles ’n’ potato salad

Recipe by Mrs Elswood

Prep time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1kg Charlotte potatoes, halved

4 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 spring onions, finely sliced

4 Mrs Elswood Sweet Sour Pickled Cucumbers, sliced

6 radishes, finely sliced

3 hard-boiled eggs, halved

Salt and pepper to season

Method:

  1. Place the potatoes in a large pan of boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes until tender, drain and allow to cool.
  2. To make the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, white wine vinegar, black pepper, parsley and Dijon mustard in a small bowl. Season well and set aside.
  3. Place the cooled potatoes in a large bowl with the spring onions, sliced pickled cucumbers and radish. Stir through the dressing until well combined. Transfer to a serving dish, top with the hard-boiled egg halves and serve.

Mediterranean Tomato Chutney and Cheese Sausage Rolls

Recipe by Branston

Makes 8 small or 12 large

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Butter or oil, for greasing

Plain flour, for dusting

320g sheet of puff pastry

350g sausage meat (If you don’t have any sausage meat leftover or need to more of it, use sausage meat from sausages by squeezing them out of their skins)

50g mild Cheddar, chopped into small cubes

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dried oregano

100g Branston Mediterranean Tomato Chutney

1 egg, beaten

Ground black pepper

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and grease and line a baking tray with baking paper. On a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll out the pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways, so you have two long strips.
  2. In a bowl, mix together the sausage meat, Cheddar, Worcestershire sauce and oregano, then season with pepper. Dust your hands with flour and then shape half of the sausage meat into a sausage-shape the length of the pastry strips. Lay it on one side of the strip, leaving a border of a pound coin’s width down one side, and repeat with the remaining sausage meat and the other strip of pastry. Drip a line of Branston Mediterranean Tomato Chutney on the side of the meat that has the majority of the pastry and dap the border with some of the beaten egg.
  3. Fold the other side over to seal, enveloping the sausage meat, and push a pattern in to the border with the prongs of a fork, leaving the ends open. Cut each roll into in half, then half again for large sausage rolls or cut the halves into three pieces for small sausage rolls, and place on the prepared tray. Brush with the remaining beaten egg, then bake for 15 minutes, until golden and sizzling. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes and then serve.

Scotch eggs with Pimm’s ketchup

Recipe by Asda

Serves 12

Prep time: 44 minutes, includes chilling time

Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1tbsp olive oil

150ml Asda Tomato Ketchup

75ml Pimm’s

Splash Worcestershire sauce

8 medium eggs

8 reduced fat pork sausages, skins removed

1tbsp milk

125g breadcrumbs

1.5L sunflower oil

Method:

  1. To make the Pimm’s ketchup, fry the shallots and garlic in the oil for 3-4 minutes until soft but not coloured.
  2. Add the tomato ketchup, Pimm’s and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  3. Simmer 6 of the eggs in a pan of water for 6 mins. Drain, then place under a running cold tap until cold to the touch. Remove the shells.
  4. Divide the sausage meat into six. Put each piece on a sheet of clingfilm, put another sheet on top, then flatten the meat into 14cm rounds. Remove from the clingfilm and wrap around each egg. Press down the edges to seal.
  5. Whisk the other 2 eggs with the milk and put in a shallow bowl. Coat the Scotch eggs in this mixture, then roll in the breadcrumbs. Chill for 30 mins.
  6. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 160C, or in a deep pan until a cube of bread dropped in turns brown in 50 secs. Fry for 10-12 minutes until golden. Remove, drain on kitchen roll and cut into halves. Serve hot or cold with Pimm’s ketchup.

Broad bean and Cheddar quiches recipe

Recipe by Tesco

Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

240g ready-rolled shortcrust pastry

100g fresh or frozen broad beans

For the pesto

25g watercress

small handful of basil

1 garlic clove, crushed

50g Parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese

25g toasted pine nuts

½ tsp salt

75ml olive oil

For the filling

3 eggs, beaten

50ml semi-skimmed milk

100g mature Cheddar, grated

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to Gas 6, 200°C, Fan 180°C. Line 4 fluted tartlet tins with the shortcrust pastry. Prick the base of each with a fork and then chill for 10 minutes or until firm.
  2. Now, pod the broad beans. If using fresh broad beans, remove the beans from the large outer pods and boil for 2-3 minutes. Then, for both fresh and frozen beans, pierce the white pod while submerged in warm water and squeeze out the bright green beans (they may separate into two halves). Drain and set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, make the pesto by blitzing the watercress, basil, garlic and Parmesan in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the pine nuts and salt and blitz again. Then, with the food processor on, drizzle the olive oil in to create a creamy pesto. You may not need all of the pesto, the remainder can keep in the fridge, covered, for up to 1 week.
  4. Blind bake the pastry by covering with nonstick baking paper and filling with baking beans. Cook for 10 minutes and then remove the baking beans and paper and cook for another 5 minutes until golden.
  5. To make the filling, combine the eggs, milk, broad beans and Cheddar with a little seasoning. Pour this mixture into the tartlet tins, leaving a little space from the top of the pastry. Using a teaspoon, swirl in a spoonful of watercress pesto over the egg mixture of each quiche.
  6. Reduce the oven to gas 3, 170°C, fan 140°C and bake in the lower half of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the egg is firm. Allow to cool slightly, and then remove the tartlets from the tins. Serve warm or cold, with a green salad, if you like.

Raspberry ripple marshmallows

Recipe by Sainsbury's

Makes 25

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tsp vegetable oil

300g fresh raspberries

2 7g gelatine sachets

440g granulated sugar

140g glucose syrup

2 tsp pink food colouring

40g icing sugar

40g cornflour

Method:

  1. Line a 20cm square cake tin with clingfilm and grease with the vegetable oil.
  2. Heat half the raspberries in a microwave on high for 1 minute until piping hot and completely softened. Mash with a fork and pass through a sieve.
  3. Add the liquid to the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle over the gelatine. Leave to absorb. Meanwhile, put the granulated sugar and glucose in a medium saucepan with 250ml water. Stir to combine and brush down any sugar on the sides.
  4. Cook over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then turn up the heat to bring it to the boil. Using a sugar thermometer, wait for the temperature to reach 130°C. This can take at least 10 minutes, so be patient. Take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool for 1 minute.
  5. Begin to whisk the gelatine mixture on a medium speed. Add the sugar and syrup, slowly pouring it down the side of the mixer bowl and being careful not to let it touch the whisk directly. The mixture should grow in volume like a very stiff meringue. Once you have added all the syrup, turn the speed to high and continue to whisk for another 7-8 minutes until thick and voluminous.
  6. Working quickly, transfer half the mixture to a large bowl using an oiled rubber spatula. Briefly whisk the food colouring into the mixture in the stand mixer until evenly coloured. Alternate dollops of the mallow mixtures into the lined dish, dotting the raspberries among it. Use the end of your spoon or spatula to swirl together. Leave to set for 4 hours until firm.
  7. Combine the icing sugar and cornflour and dust some on to a board. Turn the marshmallow out onto the board. Dip a sharp knife into hot water until hot, then carefully slice the marshmallow into 25 squares, dipping the knife back into the hot water if it gets sticky. Dust the marshmallows in the remaining icing sugar mixture to serve.