Category: Lunch

REPOST – Two Ways With Leftover Chicken

Happy New Year!

I hope the festivities were wonderful and the champagne was flowing freely!!!  The only downside to all the partying is that invariably you end up with a fridge full of leftovers.  This year we were inundated with leftover chicken so, if you ever find yourself in the same situation, here are two ways to use it up.

 

My first leftover chicken recipe uses one of my favourite retro ingredients, the vol au vent shell. (Sorry Glenda, still store-bought!)

Chicken And Tarragon Vol Au Vents3And it’s simples – mix up a white sauce add some tarragon, stir in your chicken, fill your vol au vent cups, sprinkle on some cheese and in a couple of minutes you have a super cute little appetizer with which to kick off your next party!

My Chicken and Tarragon Vol Au Vents are based on a recipe I found in a Feast Magazine but can also be found here.

C‪hicken and Tarragon Vol Au Vents 1

My next take on leftover chicken is a more modern Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle Tortilla which you can serve two ways.

I got this recipe from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder where it was originally conceived of as a wrap.  I made one of these and took it to work (yes, sadly I worked between Christmas and New Year).  It was tasty but I am not a fan of the taste of cooked avocado and even putting the wrap into the sandwich press was enough to turn the taste from delicious to awful.  If you like cooked avocado, or you want this all to yourself, this could be just the thing for you!

Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle TortillaIf however, like me you do not like the taste of cooked avocado, or you want to share the deliciousness, turn it into a “pizza”

Heat the tortilla until crispy, sprinkle the chicken, avocado and the chipotle salsa over the top, cut into slices and serve immediately to your guests as an appetizer. (Or eat it all by yourself!  I won’t judge you.

Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle Tortilla2

 

Print

Chicken, Avocado & Chipotle Tortillas

Two delicious ways with chicken tortillas

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tortilla
  • 1/4 cup chopped leftover chicken
  • 1/4 avocado, roughly chopped
  • 1 small tomato, chopped
  • 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/41/2 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce (or to taste)
  • 1 sprig of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Toothpick

Instructions

  1. At least one hour before serving, make your salsa.
  2. Discard the seeds from the tomato, mix with the onion, chilli, coriander and lime juice. Season to taste.
  3. Set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
  4. Just before serving, drain the salsa, neither of these recipes needs soggy tortilla!

For The Pizza

  1. Heat the tortilla under the grill until it gets crispy.
  2. Once the tortilla is crispy, take it out of the oven and top with the chicken, avocado and salsa.
  3. Cut into slices and serve immediately.
  4. Perfect with an ice cold beer!

For the Wrap

  1. Warm the tortilla according to packet instructions, to soften.
  2. Spread a line of chicken, a line of avocado and a line of salsa in the middle of the tortilla, leaving a 2 cm gap on all sides.
  3. Fold in the bottom, rotate 90* and fold over one side then the other.
  4. Tuck the remaining side of tortilla, securing with a toothpick.
  5. Place into your sandwich press or under your grill and heat until the outside of the tortilla is golden and crispy.
  6. Don’t forget to remove the toothpick before eating!

I wish you all the very best for 2016 and may it be the year all your dreams come true!  Thank you for reading and commenting and being a part of my teeny corner of the internet.  It’s a New Year – Let’s make it wonderful!

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Bringing It. Lunch That Is.

One of my new year’s resolutions this year was to take my lunch to work a lot more. I had lots of reasons for this –  it’s a LOT cheaper, it meant I could control ingredients and portion sizes, it can often be healthier and there’s much less wastage both in food and packaging.  There’s no real downside.

Except.  The monotony. By about mid February I felt like I was cornering the market in tins of tuna – tuna green salad, tuna pasta salad, tuna potato salad, tuna and couscous had become my go to and frankly it was becoming a bit of a bore.  I was maxxed out on the tuna and feeling my motivation starting to wane.

Enter “Bring Your Lunch” by Califia Suntree.

Bring Your Lunch
Bring Your Lunch

And can I just say…awesome name, Califia Suntree.

And awesome book.

In the interests of full disclosure and all the blah blah, I did not pay for this book, I got it free off net galley but I would hope that you all know me well enough by now to know that if I truly dislike something, I’ll let you know.

The Book

The first few chapters of the book are the facts, man.  Why you should take your lunch, what you need, planning tips etc.  This section is very thorough. Or so I assume from the number of pages devoted to it.

To be honest, I didn’t actually read all of them because I wanted to get my hands on the recipes.  Plus, I felt I was already motivated to bring my own lunch didn’t need to be pitched on the reasons why.  However, it is very nicely illustrated and if you need to be convinced, or feel your motivation flagging at any time, take the time to read these pages.

Bring your Lunch Collage

My favourite picture in this section was the lunch horoscope.  It really helped to refine what recipes would best fit your lifestyle,not just your tastebuds!  Which is so important,  I’m not the person who is going to be spending any time in the morning making lunch so it’s important for me to know which are the good “night owl” recipes.

This could have been carried even further by attaching the relevant symbols to the recipe.  That would have been amazing!!!

Bring Your Lunch2The Food

The food sections of the book are broken down into various sections, starting with

Last Minute Lunches – Salads

The Kale Agrodolce is not only just a good idea for lunches but it has pretty much become my go-to salad at the moment.  I’m loving the sweet-sour of the agrodolce.  Having said that, that name made me giggle though.  Anyone of a certain age in Australia would like me probably associate an Agrodolce as the mutant lovechild between a foul-mouthed puppet host of a children’s cartoon show from the ’80’s….

And Joe Dolce, a singer who made his fortune by playing to the casual racism of the average Australian;

Thankfully, it’s actually a lovely sweet-sour blend of sultanas soaked in balsamic vinegar.  Add some toasted pine nuts, some kale et voila.  Here it is with some of the Potato and Mushroom Tarts from Valli Little’s Slow. This was one of the best lunches I have had in ages!!!

Kale Agrodolce
Kale Agrodolce

Another super salad from this section was the Fennel and Spinach Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese.  I don’t have a photo of this .  Largely because every time I made it I was far too busy shoving all that tasty goodness into my mouth to take photos.  Just believe me when I say it is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. But don’t take my word for it.  I feel bad I didn’t have a photo for you, so here is the recipe:

Fennel and Spinach Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese

Make this today, you will not be disappointed!

Last Minute Lunches – Sandwiches

I made the Prawn and Tarragon Egg Salad. 

Who knew egg and prawns would go together do well? And tarragon pretty much makes everything taste good.  I had this both as a traditional sandwich and wrapped in a lettuce leaf and it was delicious both ways.

 Egg Salad With Prawn and Tarragon3Leftover Leitmotifs

Waste not, want not.  Make all your food count by creatively using leftovers to make delicious bring your own lunch meals.  I made:

Nasi Goreng

Great way to use random veg  – I had cabbage, mushrooms, onion, carrot, corn, spring onions, snow peas, broccoli….I think that was all and some chicken breast.  I also threw in some prawns. So tasty!!!

Nasi Goreng
Nasi Goreng

And who doesn’t love Chicken Noodle Soup?  The Parmesan Cheese and Lemon in this Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup makes it particularly tasty.

 

Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup
Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup

Other delicious sounding recipes in this section include:

  • Chinese Chicken Salad
  • Pork Tacos with Pinepapple Salsa
  • Beef Stroganoff
  • Ceviche with Mango and Basil

The Freezer Is Your Friend

Mini Lasagnas are my friend.  Bake these vegetarian delights in muffin trays and pop in the freezer for future use.

Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas
Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas

And how gorgeous do these look, particularly when topped with a lovely cherry tomato compote?

Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas With Cherry Tomato Compote

Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas With Cherry Tomato Compote

 Ditch The Vending Machine

Chickpea Nuts

Delicious to snack on. So simple to make.

BYOL - Chickpea NutsYou can indulge your sweet tooth with

  • Chilli & Cherry Brownie Bites
  • Gingery Pecan Cranberry Granola Bars

Califia even provides advice on how to Tart Up Your Tuna, so there is absolutely never any reason to get stuck in a rut even with this staple lunch ingredient.

Tart Up Your Tuna - Califia Suntree
Tart Up Your Tuna – Califia Suntree

I really liked this book and can see it becoming a go to for lunch (and more).

My only criticism, is that whilst I love the drawings as featured above, I would have liked some photos of the food, sometimes it is just nice to see if you have “got it right”.  But that is probably more about my insecurities than any fault of the book.

At the time of writing Bring Your Lunch is selling at around $4 which is absolute bargain.  I would pay that just for the salad recipes let alone all the rest.  Why don’t you buy it and start bringing it too?

And tell me, what’s your go to work lunch?

 

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Retro Easter Part 2: Easter Lily Sandwiches

Let’s start with a caveat.

I am perfectly aware that these sandwiches do not resemble Easter Lilies and would, based on their look, be far more appropriately called Calla Lily Sandwiches.  But it’s Easter ok?

And take a look at them.  How pretty are they?  Perfect for an afternoon tea with the girls….

Easter Lily Sandwiches2
Easter Lily sandwiches

And they taste pretty damn good too!!!

There are a few recipes for these lily sandwiches floating about the interwebs. However, most of them use green onions for the stem.  I actually made it that way the first time but was disappointed in the taste.

Chomping on that big stalk made the sandwich way too oniony – I’m pretty sure no one else wants to bite into a huge chunk of onion like that either.  Or suffer the onion breath afterwards. But to use them as decoration only and take them out when it came to eating the sandwich seemed like a waste.  My first thought was to replace the onions with beans but when I went to buy the beans, I was waylaid by some gorgeous baby asparagus spears.

Easter Lily Sandwiches Ingredients
Easter Lily Sandwiches Ingredients

And my version of the Lily Sandwich was born.

If you can only get thicker asparagus you could cut the spears in half down their length.  If asparagus is not available, use beans or celery matchsticks – all of which I think would be preferable to the onion!

Oh and a tip for the frugal.  When you cut the circles out of the bread, don’t throw the rest of the bread out.  Save them to use for what my family call Ox-Eye eggs but is, I believe more commonly called,  Egg in A Hole the next morning!  Any asparagus left over can also be dipped into a runny yolk for a breakfast made in heaven!!!

Leftovers

Oh and if you don’t happen to have a rolling-pin handy, a bottle of your favourite sauv blanc works equally as well.

Impromptu Rolling PinAnd would also be the perfect accompaniment to these sandwiches at your Easter afternoon tea!

Easter Lily Sandwiches3
Easter Lily Sandwiches3.

[yumprint-recipe id=’2′]One more Easter Treat to go…stay tuned!

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2

 

 

Retro Food For Modern Times – You’re Gonna Have To Face It, You’re Addicted To…

I go through phases where I become utterly obsessed with a dish or an ingredient and have to buy it, cook it, eat it, ad nauseam.  Earlier this year it was tahini – I ate more hummus than some of the smaller Middle Eastern countries during that particular phase!  Prior to that, it was the Mary’s Gone Crackers Black Pepper Crackers – who knew that something so good for you could also taste so delish! Before that it was chipotle chillies….I quite obviously have an addictive personality.

You can relax mum. This is not when I confess to the crack/smack/cocaine/gambling addiction.  Sleep safe.  My newest and only…(well, as long as you don’t count things that are French and bubbly) addiction is my version of Mary Meredith’s Television Egg.

Breakfast Televison Eggs
Breakfast Television Eggs

Why Television Eggs?  Who knows.  Mary doesn’t explain her reasoning.  In my version she is bereft of ideas and just shouting out random bits of household furniture and food to see what sticks.  “Dishwasher Cheese.  Coffee-table bacon.  Couch potato…that one’s good. Let’s go with that.  What the fuck do you mean it’s been done?  Ok….Ermmm…..Television Eggs.”

(Oh, and in my mind Mary Meredith has a very strong Scottish Brogue.  I’m not going to go all Irvine Welsh on you…just saying that should be the accent in which she is read).

Whatever you call it.   It’s a baked egg with asparagus and tomato.  I love a baked egg.  What I don’t enjoy is scrubbing baking dishes to rid them of the residue of a baked egg, so I have added my twist.  Instead of serving it in a ramekin with toast soldiers as per MM’s suggestion, I’ve been baking them in a hollowed out bread roll.

I have now made three four versions of this and plan to make many more over the next few days.  But lets start with the original:

Television Eggs Recipe

I added some tarragon and a teeny drop of cream into mine, just because I had them in the fridge and neither was going to last much longer.  Waste not want not right? But it points to one of the strengths of this recipe, you can pretty much do what you like with it!

Television Eggs - Ingredients
Television Eggs – Ingredients
Televison Eggs for Lunch 2
Television Eggs for Lunch 2

You can, of course, cook your eggs longer for a harder yolk or less for a runnier one.

Whilst the original version was great, I then got the bug and started making television eggs out of everything we had on hand.

My variations thus far have been Rocket, Feta, Tomato and Smoked Paprika:

Televison Eggs With Rocket, Feta and Tomato
Television Eggs With Rocket, Feta and Tomato
Television Eggs With Rocket, Feta and Tomato
Television Eggs With Rocket, Feta and Tomato

When I made the rocket and feta version, I also made a breakfast egg to have after my workout at the gym the next morning.  This consisted of Ham, Swiss and Tomato:

Breakfast Televison Eggs
Breakfast Television Eggs

A handy hint I discovered was that, if you cook your television eggs on a rack, the bottom of the bread doesn’t burn.

A rack stops the bread from burning
A rack stops the bread from burning

More Variations to Try

  • Smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese, (maybe with a splash of hollandaise).
  • Mushrooms, chives and goats cheese
  • Spinach and feta, spring onions

Televison Eggs for Lunch 1

  • Leek and Gorgonzola (and yes, for those of you who know me, this is inspired by the best pizza ever!)
  • Baked Beans, cheddar cheese – another breakfast version
  • Chorizo, Potato and tomato – sauté this mixture first.
  • Creamed spinach
  • Sautéed potato cubes, green chilli, red onion and goats cheese
  • Hummus, Chipotle chillies and Mary’s Gone Crackers Black Pepper Cracker Crumbs Sprinkled on top
The Double Yolker
The Double Yolker

Ok, so that last one may be just for me but you get the drift. Cheap, cheerful, easy, healthy-ish and delicious! What more could you ask for?

r ides of march premiere 280911

Yes, ok, I want that too.

And I believe me, if I was in a position to give it to you, my dear and loyal readers….you’d have to step over my cold dead body to get it.  That would be mine.  All mine.

I’m sharing the eggs though…and they are pretty damn good.

I’m going to be spending my week working through versions of Television Eggs for my lunches.  Oh, and look at the totally awesome retro lunch box  I’m going to buy to put them in:

However you have your lunches, have a great week…and try these eggs!

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PS – Late breaking news – newest post gym version – ham, cheese, avocado, chilli sauce.  Put on very low heat before leaving home. By the time you get back (an hour?) this will be cooked to perfection!

Ham, Egg, Avocado, Cheese and Chilli Television Egg
Ham, Egg, Avocado, Cheese and Chilli Television Egg

The Italian Cuisine I Love – Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes

Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes 

These would be great for lunch or a light summer supper.  Or you could serve just one as a starter.They are perfect for a hot day as there is no cooking!!!!

They would also be really cute if you made them for a tea party or as a finger food using cherry tomatoes and piping the mixture in.

 

4 firm ripe tomatoes
1 cup canned tuna
3/4 cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
2 tbsp grated onion’
1 tbsp parsley, minced
1 tsp capers, chopped
2 anchovy fillets, mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
mayonnaise
1 tbsp chives

Cut the top off the tomatoes, hollow out carefully.

Mash tuna  and combine with all oth er ingredients except mayonnaise and chives.

Mix well.

Add enough mayonnaise to bind the mixture.

Fill the tomato shells and sprinkle with chives.

Chill before serving.