There are some dinners that don't easily transform into a packed lunch for the next day. One such example is my Chicken Scaloppini recipe.
Scaloppini is, according to Wikipedia, an Italian dish consisting of thinly sliced meat (chicken, veal...) that is covered in flour, sauteed, and served in a sauce (perhaps tomato or wine based). I think this is the kernel reason that I love Italian cookery - complete flexibility, without any pretensions. Fry a bit of chicken and put it in a sauce (whatever you have lying around), and *voila* you have a Scaloppini! Bellisimo.
Anyway, my recipe for Chicken Scaloppini hardly follows even these lax rules. I don't flour my chicken breasts before I saute them (mainly to save time). Although, if you wish to, please feel free, I'm sure it would work wonderfully. Instead, I tend to rub the chicken with a little coarse salt and olive oil, and then grill it in my Le Crueset grillit, which produces gorgeous black char grilled stripes, and a delicious flavour.
The char grilled chicken breasts are then placed in individual oven-to-table dishes, in a sea of delicious tomato sauce, and covered with slices of mozzarella and a topping of your choice, then grilled on high until the cheese melts and sizzles.
The trouble with this recipe is that it simply does not work for lunchboxes. How do I get the chicken, the sauce, and the cheese into a Tupperware pot without the cheese getting muddled into the sauce in a higgeldy-piggeldy mess? It's impossible I tell you.
My solution is to make Chicken Scaloppini for my dinner, and a separate, slightly modified lunch of Grilled Mozzarella Chicken with Tomato Pasta.
Chicken Scaloppini + Grilled Mozzarella Chicken with Tomato & Basil Pasta
Serves 2 for dinner + 2 for lunch
4 chicken breasts, flattened with a rolling pin
500ml jar of tomato and basil pasta sauce, or the same quantity homemade
125g bag of mozzarella
2 mugs of pasta (penne, fusilli...)
Topping e.g. salami, pepperoni, chorizo, peppers, mushrooms, Pepperdew, cherry tomatoes, basil leaves
Pesto (optional)
Begin by heating up your grillit/griddle/frying pan (or whatever utensil you will use to cook your chicken breasts). Next, flatten the chicken breasts with a rolling pin. I do this one at a time, inside a freeze bag to minimise mess. Rub the flattened chicken breast with some course sea salt and brush with a little olive oil. Place each breast in the pan, and cook on both sides, for about 10 mins total (this will depend on how thin your chicken breasts are, so don't forget to check for doneness).
Meanwhile, start boiling the pasta in water (with a little oil and salt added to the water, if you wish). In a separate pan, heat the tomato sauce gently - you want it to simmer, but to never boil.
Slice the mozzarella, and prepare any of the toppings you wish to use.
Place 2 of the cooked chicken steaks into 2 oven-to-table dishes. Cover each in 1/4 of the tomato sauce each. Cover each dish with a layer of mozzarella slices, reserving 2 slices for the other chicken breasts. Place the toppings on top of the mozzarella and place under the grill for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and sizzling.
Spread the two remaining chicken breasts with pesto on one side, and place a slice of the reserved mozzarella on top. Pop them on a tray, and stick them under the grill as well.
Meanwhile, mix the pasta with the remaining tomato sauce. Spoon this into two Tupperware containers. Place the mozzarella chicken on top. I like to add some veg to the tub as well (broccoli florets, peas, french beans, sweetcorn). The veg will get heated up in the microwave with the rest.
Serve the Chicken Scaloppini with some nice veggies.
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Showing posts with label mediterranean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mediterranean. Show all posts
Friday, November 4, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche
Quiche means, simultaneously, sunny picnics in the park and comforting lunch on a cold winters day. Fresh, but warming. Light, but satisfying. It doesn't much matter the filling - bacon, broccoli, onions, cheese, peppers, mushrooms, salmon, chicken (in any combination) - in quiche-form it is sure to be a delicious, melt-in-the-mouth affair.
This is also why quiche makes such a delightful packed-lunch; it doesn't really matter what you have in the fridge, as long as you have: flour, butter, eggs, milk, cheese + something to fill it with, you're guaranteed a tasty result.
I'll admit it now, it's not a quick recipe. But once you're eating flaky homemade pastry, filled with the lightest egg, and meltiest cheese, it will be worth the work.
Anything encased in pastry also offers you the major lunch-box benefit of: durability. I can stick a big slice of quiche in my backpack wrapped in foil and it arrives at the office after it's 10 mile bicycle journey, still in one piece.
And so, onto business.
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche
First things first, let's get everything together. We'll need:
FOR THE PASTRY
85g plain white flour
85g wholemeal flour
85g butter or margarine
2tbsp cold water
Pinch salt
TIP: I tend to use a 50:50 mix of plain white and strong wholemeal flour - for some wholesome bonus points. But you can use all-pwhite, or a mix of whatever flours you have, e.g. rye, wholemeal, oats, spelt...
FOR THE FILLING
2 eggs
1/4 pint milk
2 or 3 thick slices of mature cheddar cheese
Olive oil
A selection of the following: 1/2 yellow pepper, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, 3 or 4 chestnut mushrooms, 1/4 courgette sliced, handful of cherry tomatoes, garlic clove (unpeeled).
Herbs (such as thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary or an italian mix)
Now that everything is prepared, let's cook.
Preheat the oven to 170C (fan).
Start by prepping the dough. Put the flour, (or flours if you decide to use a mix) butter, and salt into your food processor, or a large bowl. Mix on high in the food processor, or use a spoon if you're mixing by hand. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water if the dough is too dry, you want the dough to cone together into a ball, but it shouldnt be sticky. Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest.
Next, start work on your roasted veggies. Chop your selection of Mediterranean veggies into chunky pieces:
Onions - place the halved onion face down and cut lengthways into 1cm wedges
Peppers - de-seed the pepper, and chop into 1inch batons.
Courgettes - halve the courgette lengthways, then place the pieces face down. Slice thickly.
Mushrooms - halve the mushrooms, place face down and chop into chunky wedges.
Cherry tomatoes - halve or leave whole.
Garlic clove - whole, unpeeled, lightly crushed.
Place the veggies in a roasting tin and toss with 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the herbs. Put the veggies in the bottom half of the oven to roast for around 15 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Flour your surface and rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a large enough round to fil your quiche dish or sandwich tin. Line the base of your dish or tin, and tidy the edges. Place a sheet of baking paper over the dough, and fill the dish with baking beans (I use dried chickpeas I happened to have in the cupboard). Place in the top half of the oven and blind bake for around 10 minutes.
Now let's make the quiche filling. Beat the eggs in a jug, and mix with the milk. Chop the slices of cheddar into dice. Place the cheddar in the bottom of your pastry shell, top wit the roasted veggies, then pour in the liquid. Place in the oven to bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
This is also why quiche makes such a delightful packed-lunch; it doesn't really matter what you have in the fridge, as long as you have: flour, butter, eggs, milk, cheese + something to fill it with, you're guaranteed a tasty result.
I'll admit it now, it's not a quick recipe. But once you're eating flaky homemade pastry, filled with the lightest egg, and meltiest cheese, it will be worth the work.
Anything encased in pastry also offers you the major lunch-box benefit of: durability. I can stick a big slice of quiche in my backpack wrapped in foil and it arrives at the office after it's 10 mile bicycle journey, still in one piece.
And so, onto business.
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche
First things first, let's get everything together. We'll need:
FOR THE PASTRY
85g plain white flour
85g wholemeal flour
85g butter or margarine
2tbsp cold water
Pinch salt
TIP: I tend to use a 50:50 mix of plain white and strong wholemeal flour - for some wholesome bonus points. But you can use all-pwhite, or a mix of whatever flours you have, e.g. rye, wholemeal, oats, spelt...
FOR THE FILLING
2 eggs
1/4 pint milk
2 or 3 thick slices of mature cheddar cheese
Olive oil
A selection of the following: 1/2 yellow pepper, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, 3 or 4 chestnut mushrooms, 1/4 courgette sliced, handful of cherry tomatoes, garlic clove (unpeeled).
Herbs (such as thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary or an italian mix)
Now that everything is prepared, let's cook.
Preheat the oven to 170C (fan).
Start by prepping the dough. Put the flour, (or flours if you decide to use a mix) butter, and salt into your food processor, or a large bowl. Mix on high in the food processor, or use a spoon if you're mixing by hand. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water if the dough is too dry, you want the dough to cone together into a ball, but it shouldnt be sticky. Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest.
Next, start work on your roasted veggies. Chop your selection of Mediterranean veggies into chunky pieces:
Onions - place the halved onion face down and cut lengthways into 1cm wedges
Peppers - de-seed the pepper, and chop into 1inch batons.
Courgettes - halve the courgette lengthways, then place the pieces face down. Slice thickly.
Mushrooms - halve the mushrooms, place face down and chop into chunky wedges.
Cherry tomatoes - halve or leave whole.
Garlic clove - whole, unpeeled, lightly crushed.
Place the veggies in a roasting tin and toss with 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the herbs. Put the veggies in the bottom half of the oven to roast for around 15 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Flour your surface and rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a large enough round to fil your quiche dish or sandwich tin. Line the base of your dish or tin, and tidy the edges. Place a sheet of baking paper over the dough, and fill the dish with baking beans (I use dried chickpeas I happened to have in the cupboard). Place in the top half of the oven and blind bake for around 10 minutes.
Now let's make the quiche filling. Beat the eggs in a jug, and mix with the milk. Chop the slices of cheddar into dice. Place the cheddar in the bottom of your pastry shell, top wit the roasted veggies, then pour in the liquid. Place in the oven to bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
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