Sunday was a beautiful day, and it was perfect for a picnic.

Lamb marking is a great family activity and a lot of fun for all ages. The children are excellent at catching the lambs and their nimbleness saves the backs of the older group directing the team of unskilled, over enthusiastic helpers.

There is a lot of noise around the yards. Bleating lambs looking for their mothers, ewes looking for their lambs, dogs barking and children calling and larking, and adults giving directions.

We all had our jobs. My job was the lunch and fire.

There is nothing as good as a grilled sausage, in a bread roll with tomato sauce standing around a fire on a beautiful windless day.

The bowl of cauliflower salad I took was perfect, as it could be eaten in the fingers, almost on the run.

The addition of billy tea and a sponge cake is all we needed to make a simple picnic, before we all went back to work.

Cauliflower salad with tomato, dill and capers

2 tbsp capers, drained and roughly chopped

1 tbsp French wholegrain mustard

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp cider vinegar

120 ml olive oil

1 small cauliflower, divided into florets

1 tbsp chopped dill

50g baby spinach leaves

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

sea salt and black pepper

First make the dressing, either by hand or in a food processer. Mix together the capers, mustard, garlic, vinegar and some salt and pepper. Whisk vigorously or run the machine while adding half the oil in a slow trickle. You should get a thick creamy dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Add the cauliflower florets to a large pan of boiling salted water and simmer for three minutes only. Drain through a colander and run under a cold tap to stop cooking immediately. Leave in the colander to dry well. Once dry, place in a mixing bowl with the remaining olive oil and some salt and pepper. Toss well.

If you have time, the cauliflower can be char grilled on a hot griddle pan and then transferred to a bowl. While the cauliflower is still hot, add the dressing, dill spinach and tomatoes. Stir together well, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This recipe has been adapted from Ottolenghi Cookbook.  Ebury Press