Two seasonal and utterly delicious summer picnic recipes to get you outside with a blanket and bottle of fizz. From our friends at Le Cordon Bleu.

Heritage Tomato, Honey and Mustard Onion Polenta Tart

Ingredients for two servings

• Heritage tomatoes
• 500 g heritage tomatoes
• 20 ml olive oil
• Polenta pastry
• 300 g plain flour
• 250 g butter
• 5 g salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp marmite
• 150 g fine polenta

For the honey and mustard onions

• 1 onion
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 20 g butter
• 10 g wholegrain mustard
• 20 g honey
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

• 30 g pine nuts
• 20 g parmesan, grated
• 20 g rocket

Method:

1. Slice the large heritage tomatoes into slices and smaller tomatoes into halves to achieve regular sized tomato pieces
2. Coat in olive oil and reserve until required
3. For the polenta pastry, rub flour, butter and salt together until a sandy texture is achieved
4. Lightly beat the egg with the marmite and add to the flour mixture along with the polenta
5. Combine all the ingredients together to make a dough
6. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until about 1 cm thick
7. Using a ring cut out a disc shape and transfer to a baking tray
8. Rest in the refrigerator until firm – about 30 minutes
9. For the honey and mustard onions, preheat the oven to 160˚C
10. Peel and thinly slice onion
11. Pick thyme leaves discarding the woody stems
12. Melt the butter in an oven proof pan, add onion and thyme and stir to combine
13. Place a lid on the pan and transfer to the oven and cook until the onions are soft but have no colour, about 10 minutes
14. Return pan to the stove top, remove lid and continue to cook until dry
15. Add mustard and honey and season to taste
16. Allow to cool and set aside until required
17. Preheat oven to 170˚C. Prick the dough using a fork and bake for 10 minutes
18. Allow to cool
19. For the assembly, increase the oven to 180˚C
20. Spread the honey and mustard onions over the par-baked tart base
21. Arrange slices of tomato on top and sprinkle with pine nuts
22. Bake until the tomatoes are cooked and start to take on some colour, about 8-10 minutes
23. To serve, allow to cool slightly and top with fresh rocket and parmesan

Pineapple and Mascarpone Tartlets

For the pâte sablée

• 185 g plain flour
• 60 g icing sugar
• 20 g ground almonds
• 1 g salt
• 95 g butter, cold and cubed
• 40 g eggs

Pistachio and almond cream

• 75 g butter
• 60 g caster sugar
• 75 g eggs
• 35 g ground almonds
• 40 g ground pistachios
• 10 g plain flour

Mascarpone and lime cream

• 100 g mascarpone
• 25 g icing sugar
• 200 g whipping cream
• 1 g vanilla seeds
• zest ½ lime, finely grated

Pineapple and passion fruit confit

• 50 g simple syrup (50 ml water and 50 g caster sugar)
• 5 g Ultratex (tapioca starch)
• 50 g passion fruit purée
• 50 g fresh pineapple, cut in brunoise

Decoration

• pineapple brunoise
• silver spray
• viola flowers

Method:

1. For the pâte sablée, put the flour, icing sugar, almonds and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles sand. Add the egg and mix to form a dough, being careful not to overwork it
2. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface then chill until firm, meanwhile preheat the oven to 165°C
3. Line the tartlet rings with the pastry and chill again. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the bottoms are set
4. For the pistachio and almond cream, in a bowl, cream butter, sugar and eggs then fold in the dry ingredients
5. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag, snip off the end and pipe the cream inside the part baked tart cases
6. Put back in the oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Set aside to cool completely
7. For the pineapple and passion fruit confit, make a simple syrup with the water and sugar by cooking over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved
8. Whisk the Ultratex with 50 g simple syrup and passion fruit purée until thick
9. Carefully stir in the brunoise pineapple pieces
10. For the mascarpone and lime cream, place all the ingredients in a large bowl set over an ice bath
11. Whisk to form soft and pipeable peaks
12. Spoon the mixture in a piping bag fitted with an 8 mm round nozzle
13. For the assembly, pipe small blobs of the mascarpone cream on top of the tarts then garnish with pineapple brunoise, silver spray and viola flowers

Le Cordon Bleu London is part of the global network of culinary arts and hospitality management institutes whose alumni include Julia Child, Mary Berry, Peggy Porschen and Yotam Ottolenghi.  www.cordonbleu.edu