A weekend and a whole week of sunshine is forecast, it is glorious and can only mean one thing, al fresco dining. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love nothing better than being outside but what really makes me happy is having everyone around our massive garden table, eating good food and sitting late in to the night laughing and chatting away.

Last night was a very impromptu event with a visit from Stephen and Rieanna, so a full table and a lovely evening was had, after a little drama that is! Rosie rang me to say she had a problem, now I knew she was driving home and went into Mother panic mode, I thought she had an accident!!! But no, she was fine and just had a puncture, luckily it was close to home and I sent Hubby and her Big Brother up to rescue her. Her Pit Crew were very impressed with their tyre change time and are hoping for offers from the Red Bull F1 team !!!!

So drama averted and back to the recipe. I recently brought (yes another one) a new cookery book, this one by Tori Finch is called ‘a Perfect day for a Picnic’ and is full of fabulous recipes and ideas for al fresco dining of all sorts. I have been through it with my post it notes and it is bursting with things that I am going to make. This week alone I am making four salads from the book, perfect for these lovely summery days and to enjoy outside.

You can never have to many salads in your repertoire, the days are long gone of a salad consisting of a few lettuce leaves, tomato and cucumber! The salads from this book are perfect for a BBQ and to take to a party that requires you to take a side dish along. They are packed with interesting healthy ingredients and lots of gorgeous in season summer produce. I love the idea of using bulgar wheat, orzo, cous cous and quinoa in salads, its good for you, brings different textures and tastes to your table and stops the salad from becoming a boring part of your meal.

This tabbouleh salad with feta is amazing, zingy and fresh, perfect to cut through those rich BBQ meats.

Buon appetito

Serves 6

100g bulgar wheat
250g feta cheese, crumbled
2 shallots or 1 small red onion, finely chopped
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped into 1cm pieces
2 bunches of fresh flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped
1 small bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 lemons freshly squeezed, plus the grated zest of 1 lemon
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Put the bulgar wheat into a shallow bowl and pour enough cold water over just to cover it. Leave for 20 minutes or so for the wheat to soften, then transfer to a sieve and rinse the wheat under cold running water until the water runs clear and all the starch is removed. Drain well.

Put the wheat in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a fork to separate. Throw in the feta, chopped shallot/onion, tomatoes (and any of the juices released whilst chopping) and herbs, season with salt and pepper to taste. We like lots of black pepper in this house and try to hold back a little on the salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and zest. Taste and add more lemon juice if required, it needs to be fairly tart. Pour over the tabbouleh and gently mix well.