Thermos Adventures, Chapter 1: Soup

Rather naturally I suppose, the first thing I made for the thermos was soup. Seeing as the original function of the Thermos was the transportation of hot beverages, I supposed it would fair well transporting hot soup.

I was feeling a bit chilly, so I decided to go for a warming winter soup: Roast chicken and mushroom. I had a browse around but could not find a recipe that was quite what I wanted, so I concocted my own. Here it is:

Roast Chicken and Mushroom Soup
Serves 2 + leftovers

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1 carrot, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped (in place of celery and carrot, I often supplement and/or substitute vegetables like swede, leek, squash etc)
1 tbsp dried rosemary
2 roast chicken breasts (or the same quantity of leftover chicken legs, thighs etc)
150g mushrooms, sliced thickly (I like to use little button mushrooms)
1.5 litres of vegetable or chicken stock (I use bouillon powder)
3 or 4 handfuls of breadcrumbs

Heat the oil in a large, heavy based pan (I use a Le Creuset Casserole) and add the onion, carrot and celery. Gently fry until lightly golden and aromatic. Add the rosemary and the mushrooms and continue to fry over a low heat until the mushrooms start to sweat.

Add the stock, and simmer (careful, you want a gentle simmer, not a hard boil). After 10 minutes, add the roasted chicken, torn by hand into small chunks, and the breadcrumbs, one handful at a time. The breadcrumbs are to thicken the soup, so you may need more or less, to achieve the thickness you desire. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Before serving, take a hand blender, and give it a whiz. This will give the soup a creamier texture and a lighter colour.

TIP: separate the soup into 2 bowls, and whizz only 1. This will give you a creamy base, but still some lovely chunks of veg and chicken.

This was DELICIOUS. I actually shocked myself with how good this was.

And, you'll be glad to know, the fiance sat down at lunch to a bowl of lovely warming soup. Amazing.

Hot Packed Lunches without a Microwave: A Solution

I thought it couldn't be done. I supposed that no microwave inevitably meant cold, boring packed lunches. I thought this week would involve a sandwich, a wrap, a sandwich, a pitta pocket, or any of the "variations" in between (not very varied, I know).

I started thinking, there must be some other way to warm food up in the office, besides a microwave? Then it struck me. Change the problem. Instead of "how can I warm this up?", I asked myself, "how can I keep this warm?". I considered the options, and only one presented itself. Thermos. Thermoses can keep tea or coffee warm for hours. But, the long thin canisters designed for hot drinks would be inconvenient for food. I did some research and discovered that Thermos manufacture food canisters as well, with wider bodies and necks so that you can fit food inside, and eat directly from the pot too.

I have ordered one (this one) and shall be testing it over the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Packed Lunch without a Microwave

Disaster! The company my fiance works for have relocated and (rather inconsiderately, I think) moved to an  office in the City which does not have a microwave. When he told me, I took me a second or two to consider the gravity of this change. No more hot packed lunches.

My whole cooking routine revolves around the format of Dinner for 2 & Lunch for 2. For a moment I felt really rather befuddled about how I could possibly re-engineer all of my recipes for this new format: Dinner for 2 & Lunch for 1... for ONE? But then I recovered.

I realised that you, my readers, may also sometimes have need to whip up a packed-lunch that does not require reheating (picnic, school lunch...). You may be bored of the same old sandwich from M&S, but unable to think of anything more insporing to prepare at home. And so, for this period of time while my fiance is sans le microwave, I shall be thinking up, testing out and posting solutions to the microwaveless packed lunch dilemma.

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.

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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.