10. Lock & Lock tupperware
This is the kind of tupperware with 4 clips on each side of the tub. Shake it all about, do the hokey kokey and turn around, and your soup will still be inside the tub, and not inside your handbag.
9. Cling film
Making delicious cakes and cookies for a mid-afternoon pick me up is one thing, keeping them fresh (and in one piece) is another. I wrap muffins, cookies, bars, cake slices etc in cling film as soon as they've cooled to ensure they stay fresh in the fridge until they are needed.
8. Vanilla essense
You want to bake cakes? You're going to need vanilla essence in your cupboard. Just a teaspoon of vanilla and some jam, and you've got a delicious Victoria Sandwich. Vanilla essence is also scrum-diddly-scrumptious addition to a simple apple cake.
7. Cocoa
Like vanilla essence, you need cocoa in your cupboard. Choco-chip cookies, chocolate muffins, marble cake, brownies... the possibilities are endless.
6. Canned tuna
When you really don't want to cook, a can of tuna is a lifesaver. Make a juicy Tuna-Mayo Sandwich, or top a jacket potato with tuna mayo mixed with sweetcorn. Or why not whip up a Tuna Pasta Salad?
5. Banana's
Research shows that banana's are one the very best sources of energy, and they provide variety of essential vitemins and minerals needed to keep you healthy. For those of you who prefer fruit, rather than cakes and biccies, to keep you going through a long afternoon in the office, then you can't go wrong with a banana.
And for those of you who do like a sneaky snack, banana's are really useful for baking once the skins are brown and the banana is soft and sweet. There are hundreds of recipes out there for banana based treats, and any one of them is bound to be fantastic. My fave so far is a Banana and Toffee Loaf cake, but I cannot for the life of me remember which cookbook this heaven sent recipe appears in, but I will hunt it down. When I do, I'll bake it for you some time!
Not to mention, have you noticed how inexpensive banana's are?
4. Apples
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, so they say. Also, you can rely on an apple to arrive at it's destination intact and unsquashed, and for that alone it beats the banana.
Apple's are also rather fantastic in cakes and bakes. Apple-cakey receipes to follow soon.
3. Pasta
Need I explain? When you cannot decide what you have, the answer is pasta.
2. Museli
Why museli, I hear you ask. We're talking about lunches, aren't we? The answer to this mystery is Museli Bars. You could mix nuts and fruit with oats yourself, but why bother? Look in the cereal isle for museli (look for the special offers), and pick a combo you fancy. The results are impressive. Prior to this little experiment, my museli bars were always in the following formula: (Oats + Raisins) + (Sugar + Syrup + Butter) = Museli Bar. But consider this: museli is often a much more complex afair, bringing in seeds, spelt flakes, puffed rice, exotic fruits etc. And it's all put together for you, and it's often cheaper than buying the individual compontents yourself.
1. Fresh or frozen 'soup base' vegetables
A medley of 'soup base' veegtables (including a selection of onions, celery, carrot, swede, turnip, potato...) is a godsend for last minute lunches. Use the veg's as a base for almost any soup you can imagine, or even a stew! For starters, you could try any combination of Vegetable soup, Chicken & Vegetable, Spicy Parsnip, Chilli Veg, Moroccan Chickpea....
The frozen variety is especially useful:
* No waste
* No mess
* Can be used directly from frozen
* Use only what you need, and keep the rest in the freezer for another meal!
Showing posts with label packed lunch for adults. Show all posts
Showing posts with label packed lunch for adults. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Friday, November 4, 2011
Chicken Scaloppini Metamorphosis
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.
Tweet
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.
Tweet
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
In a hurry! Tuna Pasta Salad
Tonight me and the fiance went out to dinner with a couple of friends (had sushi - yum!), which was great, but it's thrown a spanner in my routine, for there are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow! What to do? I decided to solve this by whipping up something ultra quick.
Tuna Pasta Salad
Serves 2
2 mugs of penne pasta
1 tin tuna 1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 handful frozen peas
2 tbsp pesto
1/4 red or yellow or green pepper, sliced thinky and diced
a few cherry tomatoes, quartered
OPTIONAL
tsp garlic infused olive oil
sprinkling of oregano/basil/mint
This one is as simple as 'put it in a bowl and stir it'. But for you novices out there, here are the instructions:
Start by boiling the pasta. I add a little salt and a few drops of sunflower oil to the water. The salt speeds up the boiling of the water, and adds a little flavour to your pasta, and the oil keeps the pasta from sticking together (you won't need to watch it quite so closely).
I recommend cooking your pasta to just al dente. You want it to have some bite still, as it will continue to rehydrate even after you have drained the water off - and no one likes soggy pasta in their salad!
Rinse the cooked pasta under the cold tap.
Put the pasta in a bowl and stir in all of the remaining ingredients.
Divide the pasta into two tupperware pots and store in the fridge until you want to eat it.
Tuna Pasta Salad
Serves 2
2 mugs of penne pasta
1 tin tuna 1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 handful frozen peas
2 tbsp pesto
1/4 red or yellow or green pepper, sliced thinky and diced
a few cherry tomatoes, quartered
OPTIONAL
tsp garlic infused olive oil
sprinkling of oregano/basil/mint
This one is as simple as 'put it in a bowl and stir it'. But for you novices out there, here are the instructions:
Start by boiling the pasta. I add a little salt and a few drops of sunflower oil to the water. The salt speeds up the boiling of the water, and adds a little flavour to your pasta, and the oil keeps the pasta from sticking together (you won't need to watch it quite so closely).
I recommend cooking your pasta to just al dente. You want it to have some bite still, as it will continue to rehydrate even after you have drained the water off - and no one likes soggy pasta in their salad!
Rinse the cooked pasta under the cold tap.
Put the pasta in a bowl and stir in all of the remaining ingredients.
Divide the pasta into two tupperware pots and store in the fridge until you want to eat it.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Leftovers for Lunch - Toad in the Hole
My lunch main courses are (more often than not) leftover whatever I had for dinner the night before. I love this - flavours developing overnight, the guarantee of a tasty aromatic home-cooked meal for lunch, and my colleagues poking their noses in my lunchbox to see what I've bought with me today. Leftovers for lunch has more benefits than I can name, but off the top of my head, I give you:
Start by prepping the batter for the 'hole'. For best results, Leith's Cookery Bible suggests leaving the batter to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. Letting it rest, Prue says, allows the gluten to develop, resulting in a less doughy final product. Unfortunately I didn't have 30 minutes to play with, so I left mine to sit for 10 minutes, and my final product was not at all stodgy.
To make the batter, you should sift the flour and salt into a bowl, and make a little well in the top. Break the eggs into the well, and start mixing the eggs into the flour gradually to make a paste (I used a whisk). Bit by bit, add the liquid, and keep mixing until combined, but be careful not to over beat it, or it will not rise properly. Pop the bowl into the fridge to rest, and go and have a sit down and a cup of tea while you wait.
5 minutes before your batter is ready, oil the dish you will be using (I used a ceramic lasagne dish, but you could use a pyrex dish, a casserole dish, or any dish that has a large enough surface area to allow you to arrange your sausages with a 1cm(ish) gap between them, and high enough sides to contain the batter (a couple of inches).
Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the sausages until they a are sealed (don't wash up the pan - you will be using it later). Arrange the sausages in the bottom of the lasagne dish, and pour the batter into the gaps.
Pop it in the oven. After 20 minutes, take the dish out of the oven and arrange your chopped tomatoes skin side up on the top, and place back in the oven for the remaining 20 minutes (by which time they'll have got all delicious and roasted).
Meanwhile, start the gravy. I made a bit of a makeshift gravy by frying up sliced onions in the frying pan I used for the sausages, until the onions were soft and golden. Then I added a tablespoon of red onion chutney, a squeeze of HP sauce, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 100ml of water. I let it simmer, adding a bit of plain flour, till it was slightly thickened and syrupy. However, you could use Bisto granules, if you have them, or anything else you fancy.
Once cooked, I served up 2 portions for dinner, with boiled peas, carrots and sweetcorn, reserving some extra veg and popping it into the tupperware tubs with the remaining portions for lunch the next day.
I was a little concerned that reheating the Toad in the Hole in the microwave for lunch might dry the batter out and make it chewy, but I was wrong, after 3.5 mins at 800W, it was prefect!
- It's cheap - ever totted up how much you spend at Pret a Manger per week?
- It's healthy - I guarantee that your homemade lasagne will be less calorific, less fatty and less salty than Marks and Spencers
- It's quick - no separate preparation or cooking
- Saves time at lunchtime - you'll save the 15 mins its takes to walk to the shop and buy your lunch
| Toad in the Hole
FOR THE TOAD 1 pack of sausages Olive oil 5 or 6 cherry tomatoes, halved FOR THE HOLE 110g plain flour Generous pinch of salt 2 eggs 150ml water added to 150ml milk FOR THE GRAVY Half an onion, thinly sliced 2tbsp balsamic vinegar 1tbsp red onion chutney Squeeze of HP sauce 100ml water 1 tbsp plain flour |
Start by prepping the batter for the 'hole'. For best results, Leith's Cookery Bible suggests leaving the batter to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. Letting it rest, Prue says, allows the gluten to develop, resulting in a less doughy final product. Unfortunately I didn't have 30 minutes to play with, so I left mine to sit for 10 minutes, and my final product was not at all stodgy.
To make the batter, you should sift the flour and salt into a bowl, and make a little well in the top. Break the eggs into the well, and start mixing the eggs into the flour gradually to make a paste (I used a whisk). Bit by bit, add the liquid, and keep mixing until combined, but be careful not to over beat it, or it will not rise properly. Pop the bowl into the fridge to rest, and go and have a sit down and a cup of tea while you wait.
5 minutes before your batter is ready, oil the dish you will be using (I used a ceramic lasagne dish, but you could use a pyrex dish, a casserole dish, or any dish that has a large enough surface area to allow you to arrange your sausages with a 1cm(ish) gap between them, and high enough sides to contain the batter (a couple of inches).
Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the sausages until they a are sealed (don't wash up the pan - you will be using it later). Arrange the sausages in the bottom of the lasagne dish, and pour the batter into the gaps.
Pop it in the oven. After 20 minutes, take the dish out of the oven and arrange your chopped tomatoes skin side up on the top, and place back in the oven for the remaining 20 minutes (by which time they'll have got all delicious and roasted).
Meanwhile, start the gravy. I made a bit of a makeshift gravy by frying up sliced onions in the frying pan I used for the sausages, until the onions were soft and golden. Then I added a tablespoon of red onion chutney, a squeeze of HP sauce, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 100ml of water. I let it simmer, adding a bit of plain flour, till it was slightly thickened and syrupy. However, you could use Bisto granules, if you have them, or anything else you fancy.
Once cooked, I served up 2 portions for dinner, with boiled peas, carrots and sweetcorn, reserving some extra veg and popping it into the tupperware tubs with the remaining portions for lunch the next day.
I was a little concerned that reheating the Toad in the Hole in the microwave for lunch might dry the batter out and make it chewy, but I was wrong, after 3.5 mins at 800W, it was prefect!
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