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| LUNCH
RECIPES |
FOOD
& COOKING ARTICLE |
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Bored
with lunch? Not any more!
Gizzi
Erskine shows you how you can liven up your daily lunch
 With
everyone working harder than ever at the moment, the
long leisurely lunch break appears to be a thing of
the past. You may find yourselves lucky if you are able
to grab 15 minutes halfway through the day, and even
then, how many times do you stay at your desk catching
up on household bills or emails from friends? This summer
Gizzi Erskine and recruitment specialist Monster are
on a mission to ‘Bring Back Britain’s Lunch
Hour’!
If you are one of these desk junkies then it is often
difficult to make sure you have a nutritious lunch.
If you are getting fed up of the daily cheese sandwich
then Gizzi has the answer.
You can easily bring new life to your lunches with
simple changes. Perhaps alter the bread you use, try
having a nutritious soup or delicious, healthy salad.
The key is to prepare the night before, remember any
left overs you have can be turned into a delicious meal
for the following day. And for those with really hectic
lifestyles, make a large quantity at the weekend and
then you can take portions throughout the week.
You will be amazed at the difference a healthy tasty
lunch can make to your productivity and general well-being
come the end of the day. Monster believes the lunch
hour is time to enhance work/life balance by spending
time away from the desk. Eating good food, learning
something new, reading, exercising or just relaxing,
will enable smarter working in the afternoon.
In order to help liven up your lunch hour, food writer
and presenter Gizzi Erskine has teamed up with Monster.co.uk
to provide you with some nutritious and delicious recipes.
In the following video she talks you through a week’s
worth of recipes.
Gizzi Erskine
Gizzi Erskine is a food writer, stylist and television
presenter. She is best known for being one of the presenters
of Channel 4's Cook Yourself Thin where she also co-wrote
the accompanying number 1, best selling book also called
Cook Yourself Thin. Her television debut though, was
as contributing presenter on Sky One's Taste in 2006.
After finishing a full diploma course at Leith's School
of Food and Wine in 2003 and leaving with honours, she
went on to win a placement at BBC Good Food magazine,
where she started to establish herself as a food writer
and stylist. After over 4 years in the industry, Gizzi's
clients have included Marie Claire, Elle USA, Arena,
FHM, In Style, Grazia, First magazine, UK food magazines
and many more.
She is on a mission to get young people into food and
cookery by giving them a worthy role model in someone
they can relate to as Gizzi's life is such that she
understands the foody needs and wants of the average
young person.
Her method is to dispel the myth that cookery is difficult
and time consuming, by showing the skills in layman's
terms, then getting passion sparked by turning these
skills into her inspired mouth watering recipes. This
is heavily demonstrated in her first "solo"
book Gizzi's
Kitchen Magic, which was published by Virgin
Books and Random House in March 2010.
PANCETTA FARO AND BEAN SOUP RECIPE
Ingredients
100g pancetta cubetti (or smoked bacon)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 onion , finely chopped
2 small carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and diced (or 2 whole
tomatoes from a can, chopped)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1l chicken stock, fresh if you can find
140g pearled spelt (or faro), but pearl barley is
more than acceptable
1 x 400g can canellini beans
flat-leaf parsley and Parmesan to serve
How
to make
- Fry
the pancetta in the oil for 2 - 3 minutes in a medium
saucepan.
-
Add the bay leaf and onion. Cook over a gentle heat
until the onion has softened and is starting to go
golden.
-
Add the garlic, fry for a few seconds more, then the
tomatoes and puree. Cook these down until the tomatoes
start to thicken and soften.
- Pour
over the stock and bring to the boil.
- Rinse
the spelt and drain well. Add to stock then simmer
very gently for 25 - 30 minutes.
- Add
the Canelllini beans and simmer for 10 minutes more,
or until the grains are tender.
- Season
with salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Ladle
the soup into bowls, then sprinkle with parsley and
freshly grated Parmesan.
Makes 5 portions (1 for each day of the week)
COURGETTE GOATS CHEESE AND TOASTED PINE NUT TART
RECIPE
Ingredients
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter, ice cold and cut into cubes
1 free range egg
or 500g packet of short crust pastry
For the filling:
3 egg yolks
150ml double cream
100g Parmesan cheese, grated
a small handful of mint, finely chopped
1 green courgette, sliced into ribbons with a potato
peeler
1 yellow courgette, sliced into ribbons with a potato
peeler
100g good soft mild goats cheese
50g toasted pine nuts
How
to make
- If
making the pastry place the flour, butter and a pinch
of salt into a food processor and blitz until it resembles
breadcrumbs.
- Crack
the egg in and bring together until it forms a pastry
ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for
30 minutes.
- Roll
out the pastry on a lightly floured surface then line
a 25cm tart case. Chill in the fridge or freezer for
20 minutes.
- Line
the case with baking paper and fill with baking beans.
Bake blind for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and
beans and finish baking for a further 10 minutes until
the pastry is golden.
- Leave
to cool in the case, then carefully trim the edges
of the pastry
- Gently
beat together the eggs and cream.
- Add
in the Parmesan cheese and mint, then season with
salt and pepper.
- Fill
the tart case with the filling.
- Mix
together the courgette ribbons and heap into the tart.
- Dot
with the crumbled goats cheese and pine nuts, then
pop in the oven to bake for 20 - 25 minutes until
just set and golden.
Makes 6 slices
SMOKED SALMON AVOCADO AND BRIE ON RYE RECIPE
Ingredients
2 pieces of seeded rye bread
a teaspoon of butter, optional
50g smoked salmon
2 slices of ripe brie cheese
½ avocado, sliced
A squeeze of lemon
½ teaspoon poppy seeds
How
to make
- Lay
the two pieces of bread out on the kitchen surface
and spread each with the butter.
- Lay
on the smoked salmon and avocado, then squeeze with
lemon.
- Top
with Brie and then sprinkle with poppy seeds and a
good grinding of black pepper.
Makes 1 sandwich
RARE ROAST BEEF WITH CRUSHED POTATO SALAD WITH HORSERADISH
RADISH WATERCRESS AND ROASTED TOMATOES RECIPE
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 beef fillet steaks, each 5 cm thick
sea salt and white pepper
100g crème fraiche
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons good horseradish
a squeeze of lemon juice
300g charlotte potatoes, cooked whole then cut in
half lengthways
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch watercress, trimmed
10 radishes, quartered
8 cherry tomatoes, preferably a mixture of red and
yellow
4 chives, snipped
How
to make
- Heat
the oil in a frying pan until really hot.
- Season
the beef steaks with salt and pepper then sear them
all over for 20 seconds on each side until the meat
is fairly dark on the outside and really rare in the
middle.
- Remove
and leave to rest for one hour in the freezer until
it firms up and is almost frozen (a restaurant trick
that will make it easier to slice). Technically
you need to let things cool before popping them into
the fridge or freezer but as this meat has simply
been seared it should not be too warm. Use your own
instincts though - if you think it needs to cool a
little before freezing then feel free to do so.
- Mix
together the crème fraiche, horseradish and
mayonnaise with some salt and pepper.
- Mix
with the potatoes, spring onions, watercress, radishes,
tomatoes and chives.
- When
you're ready to serve, thinly slice the beef, aiming
to cut 12 slices from each steak. (You can sneak
the end bits as a chef's perk!)
-
Lay slices, overlapping each other, on each plate.
- Top
with some salad and serve.
Serves 4
TUNA AND CAPONATA SALAD RECIPE
Ingredients
2 x 5cm thick spankingly fresh tuna steaks or sashimi
loin
seas alt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large aubergine, chopped into uniform 1 cm cubes
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 yellow pepper, finely chopped
250g cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
150g kalamata olives stoned
30g capers in vinegar
handful basil leaves, shredded
a small bag of rocket
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
capers for serving
How
to make
- Heat
the oil in a frying pan until really hot.
- Season
the tuna steaks with salt and pepper then sear them
all over for 20 seconds on each side until the meat
is fairly dark on the outside and really rare in the
middle. Remove and leave to rest for one hour in the
freezer until it firms up and is almost frozen (a
restaurant trick that will make it easier to slice).
Technically you need to let things cool before
popping them into the fridge or freezer but as this
meat has simply been seared it should not be too warm.
Use your own instincts though - if you think it need
to cool a little before freezing then feel free to
do so.
- Heat
half the oil in a large sauté pan.
- Add
the aubergine, then cook for 8 - 10 minutes until
brown and soft. Tip into a colander over a bowl.
- Fry
the onions and peppers for 6 - 8 minutes until starting
to soften.
- Tip
any oil from the bowl back into the pan and top it
up with a splash of fresh oil.
- Fry
the tomatoes and the crushed garlic together.
- Sprinkle
the sugar over, splash in the vinegar, then cook for
3 - 4 minutes until the tomatoes start to release
their juice.
- Tip
the aubergine, onion and peppers back in. Scatter
in the olives, capers and basil, then give everything
a good stir.
- Cook
for 5 minutes until simmering, then season to taste.
Turn off the heat, drizzle in the rest of the oil,
then set aside to cool for this salad.
- Dress
the rocket leaves in the lemon juice, olive oil and
seasoning.
- To
serve slice the tuna really thinly and lay out onto
a plate. Top with some cold Caponata salad and some
dressed rocket leaves and maybe scatter over a few
more capers.
Serves 4
Email
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