Recipe by Jodie Smith

Ploughman's Picnic Loaf

Name: Ploughman's Picnic Loaf
Prep time: 25 min
Yield: 6

Serves6 people

Prep25 min

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Valley Produce Company Ploughmans Relish 270g

$7.95

Hand-packed and dispatched from our Corio, Victoria warehouse, with free delivery Australia-wide on orders over $100.

One loaf, hollowed out, packed in layers and pressed under a weight in the fridge until it slices like a terrine. It is the picnic dish that improves while you are not looking, and the relish is doing structural work as well as flavour. Serves 6, no cooking, four hours of pressing.

Ingredients

Serves 6. Prep 25 minutes. No cooking, plus at least 4 hours pressing in the fridge. We stock the relish, the chutney, the mustard, the olives and the pita crisps. The loaf, the cheese, the leaves and whatever you use for the middle layer are yours to choose.

The loaf
1	round cob or sourdough loaf, about 800g, a day old is better than fresh
From the pantry
4 tbsp	Valley Produce Company Ploughmans Relish
2 tbsp	DCC Tomato Chutney
2 tsp	TRCC Spitfire Hot English Mustard
Half a jar	Kangaroo Island Kalamata Olives, drained, pitted and halved
The layers, from your own fridge
250g	cheddar or another firm cheese, sliced thinly
2	roasted red capsicums from a jar, drained and patted dry
150g	sliced cold meat, or a cold thick omelette cut to fit
1	large handful of rocket or baby spinach
Alongside
1 pack	VPC Artisan Pita Rosemary, Parmesan & Garlic

This is a wheat and dairy dish as written, and the pita crisps beside it declare gluten, dairy and yeast with traces of nuts and sesame. The mustard declares mustard and sulphites. The cheese and the middle layer come out of your own fridge, so those labels are yours to read.

Why the relish goes on first and touches the bread

Look at the ingredient list on the jar and the reason becomes obvious. Ploughmans Relish leads with apple, then sugar, water and tomato, with sultanas and currants behind them and a warm spice run of mustard flour, ginger, clove and cinnamon. It is closer to a fruit chutney than to a tomato relish, which means it is thick and sweet rather than loose and acidic, and a thick sweet layer spread against the crumb behaves like a gasket. Wet things above it stay above it.

Then the cheese goes in next, pressed flat against that layer, for the same reason. Between them the relish and the cheese seal the base of the loaf, and everything juicy sits in the middle where it belongs. If you spread the relish over the fillings instead of under them, you have built a sandwich that leaks. What a ploughman's lunch traditionally is, and why it suits an Australian December, is covered in our ploughman's lunch at an Australian Christmas piece.

Method

Serves 6. Prep 25 minutes. No cooking, plus at least 4 hours pressing in the fridge.

Cut the top off the loaf like a lid, about a quarter of the way down, and keep it.
Pull the soft crumb out of both halves, leaving a shell about 2cm thick all round.
Spread the ploughmans relish over the base and up the inside walls in an even layer.
Spread the mustard thinly across the underside of the lid.
Lay the cheese in first, pressing it flat against the relish so it covers the base completely.
Add the capsicum, then the olives, pressing each layer down hard with your palm.
Add the meat or the omelette, folding it to fit rather than leaving air pockets.
Spoon the tomato chutney over that layer and press it down again.
Finish with the leaves, mounded slightly, then set the lid back on top.
Wrap the whole loaf tightly in baking paper, then cling film, then tie it with string.
Sit it on a plate in the fridge with a weight on top, a chopping board and two tins works.
Press for at least 4 hours or overnight, then cut it into wedges with a serrated knife.

Getting it out of the house

Two rules and they are both about temperature. The loaf presses in the fridge, not on the bench, because it is full of cheese and cold meat and it needs to stay cold for the whole four hours. And it travels in a cool bag with an ice brick, wrapped as it is, coming out only when you are ready to cut it. Take it out of the fridge at the last possible moment before you leave. How long food can safely sit on a table once it is out is a separate question with a real answer, and it is in how long Christmas food can sit out rather than guessed at here.

Cut it at the table, not at home. A whole wrapped loaf carries better than six loose wedges, and the string coming off in front of everyone is half the appeal. The rosemary, parmesan and garlic pita crisps go beside it with the rest of the jar of olives, so there is something to eat while the loaf is being cut. More of this kind of thing is in Christmas picnic ideas.

Common questions

How long should a picnic loaf press for?

Four hours in the fridge under a weight is the minimum, and overnight is better. The press is what turns a hollowed out loaf full of separate things into something that holds together when you cut it: the bread compresses onto the fillings, the relish and chutney soak a little way into the crumb, and the whole thing firms up. Under four hours it will still taste right but the first wedge will fall apart on the board.

Can I make a picnic loaf the day before?

Yes, and the day before is when it is at its best. Build it in the evening, wrap it, weight it and leave it in the fridge overnight. Beyond about 24 hours the leaves start to wilt into the layers and the bread begins to go from firm to dense, so build it the night before rather than two days out. Keep it wrapped and cold the whole time and cut it on the day.

How do I stop the bread going soggy?

Use a day old loaf with a proper crust, hollow it out generously, and put the two driest layers against the bread. The relish goes straight onto the crumb and the cheese goes on top of it, and between them they stop the wetter fillings reaching the shell. Drain and pat dry everything that comes out of a jar, especially the capsicum and the olives. A fresh soft loaf and a wet filling is the combination that gives you a bag of pink crumbs at the picnic.

Valley Produce Company Ploughmans Relish is $7.95 for 270g and one jar builds two of these with plenty left for the toastie version, a better cheese toastie, which is the hot single serve answer to the same jar. The relish, the pita crisps and the rest of the Valley Produce Company range sit alongside the other jars under gourmet condiments, and the whole outdoor table is in festive entertaining. Shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100.