Lunch! Pasta Bakes - for here or to go?

A rediscovered old friend recently asked the universe for some advice on creative and practical school lunches for her toddler.  At our house we brown bag it every day, so it got me to thinking about how to spice up lunch in a way that's easy to make ahead and appealing to a toddler.  While there are no toddlers in our house, there is a grown man with very similar tastes.  So begins my new quest to create make-ahead lunches that will work for big kids and little kids alike.  I'll name them all "Lunch!" so they're easy to find.

We'll start with a couple of different takes on the pasta bake.  Once you get the principle down, sub in any ingredients or sauces that you dig, below you'll find 2 variations.  First, you'll want to get a big muffin tin if you're cooking for big kids, a regular one will do for little kids.  Once you get your 'bake' together, you'll smush it all into the cups and bake to set them.  In the end, you'll have pre-portioned lunches for quick packing.

The basic principle is to slowly braise a protein of your choice in a low oven so that it will be super moist and juicy and therefore will be able to stand up  to a couple of reheats.  You'll also par-cook some pasta or other starch, so it can happily go through the same thing without dissolving into mush.  To that you'll add raw veggies, some binding agents like cheese or egg, and toss it all together with the sauce you used to braise the meat.  Pop it in a tin, bake for a bit to set, and then nuke at lunchtime or enjoy at room temp.

I haven't tried it, but tightly wrapping and freezing individual portions should work well if you let them defrost before you reheat.  Might get a little wonky if you use egg - reheat at a low temp.

NOTE: you can easily sub in quinoa pasta, rice, or spaghetti squash to make this gluten free.  Cook the quinoa pasta a bit longer though - maybe 2 or 3 minutes.  Try marinated extra firm tofu or saitan to make it vegetarian...but cut back on your salt.

Cheesy Pizza Chicken Bake

Prep time: 1 hour
Yield: ~ 6 large bakes, ~ 10 small

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups dry pasta, something hearty like rigatoni, ears, or penne

2 chicken breasts

1.5 cups pasta sauce or pizza sauce

1.5 cups broccoli florets

1.5 cups shredded mozzarella

1 handful sliced pepperoni (for the junk food lover)

1 t chili flakes (for big kids)

2 T grated parm

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 t dried oregano

1 t garlic powder

s & p

olive oil spray

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350*, bring a pot of salted pasta water to a boil
• Slice your tomatoes in half, toss with cooking spray, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.  Pop these in the oven towards the bottom.  No need for the oven to be to temp.  You're going to slowly dry these out so you get the great tomato taste, without the liquid that will sog out your dish.
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken and place it in a roasting pan just big enough to hold it.  I use a pyrex loaf pan.  Add enough pasta sauce to not quite cover the chicken.  Pop it in the 350* oven, uncovered, for about 30 min or until just cooked through - maybe even a little under if you're comfortable with that.
• While the chicken and tomato are doing their thing, cook your pasta for 5 minutes and drain it.  Return it to the pot and lightly spray with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
• When your chicken is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool to touch.  Leave the chicken in the sauce and shred it with 2 forks.  Cut the longer bits into kid safe pieces.
• Once your maters look a bit shriveled, toss them in the pan with the pasta, veggies, chicken, sauce, and mozzarella.
• Spray your tins lightly with the oil and pack the pasta mix into them.  Top with a little more mozz and the parm.
• Return the pan to the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes - until the cheese has had a chance to melt and bring things together.  
• Remove, cool, and pop in the fridge.  Once the cheese is cool you can pop them out and pack them up.  

When I pack these up for big kid lunch, I throw a handful of green beans or other steam friendly veg to bulk up the portion.  It all can be nuked together for just a minute or so - yum.

Chicken and Sweet Sausage with Veggies

Prep time: 1 hour
Yield: ~ 6 large bakes, ~ 10 small

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups dry pasta, something hearty like rigatoni, ears, or penne

1 chicken breast

1/4 lb sausage (hot, sweet, other), casing removed

3/4 c white wine

herbs / spices to complement the sausage.  I used unflavored sausage and added tarragon, thyme, garlic, pepper and lemon zest.

1.5 cups broccoli florets

1.5 cups grated fontina, gouda, swiss, mozzerella, or whatever goes with your flavors

2 T grated parm

1 c frozen peas 

1/2 c panko bread crumbs

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 t dried oregano

1 t garlic powder

s & p

olive oil spray

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350*, bring a pot of salted pasta water to a boil
• Slice your tomatoes in half, toss with cooking spray, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.  Pop these in the oven towards the bottom.  No need for the oven to be to temp.  You're going to slowly dry these out so you get the great tomato taste, without the liquid that will sog out your dish.
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken and place it in a roasting pan just big enough to hold it.  I use a pyrex loaf pan.  Form the sausage into a patty and place it on top of the chicken.  At this low temp, the fats and salts from the sausage will help baste the chicken in the same way that the pasta sauce did in the last recipe. Add white wine to come about 1/4 to 1/2 way up the chicken.  This acid will help tenderize the chicken like the acid in the tomato did.  Pop it in the 350* oven, uncovered, for about 30 min or until just cooked through - maybe even a little under if you're comfortable with that.
• While the chicken and tomato are doing their thing, cook your pasta for 4 minutes, add the peas and cook 1-2 minutes more then drain.  Return it to the pot and lightly spray with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
• When your chicken is done, remove it from the oven, drain out the fat and remaining wine (sadness) and let it cool to touch.  Shred the chicken and crumble the sausage using 2 forks.  Cut the bigger bits into kid safe pieces.
• Once your maters look a bit shriveled, toss them in the pan with the pasta, veggies, meat, panko, and cheese.
• Spray your tins lightly with the oil and pack the pasta mix into them.  Top with a little more cheese and the parm.
• Return the pan to the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes - until the cheese has had a chance to melt and bring things together.  
• Remove, cool, and pop in the fridge.  Once the cheese is cool you can pop them out and pack them up.  

Other ideas I haven't tried yet:

• Ground beef or turkey (do it in a skillet like you regularly would), sloppy joe, rice, and cheese.
• Refried beans, rice, salsa, and cheese, topped with smashed tortilla chips.
• Roasted turkey, mushrooms, chopped spinach, melted tomatoes, feta and egg.
• Teriyaki chicken, broccoli, scallions, rice and egg.
• Chicken mac n cheese with broccoli or green bean bits.

Chick Peas and Lentils, Moroccan Style-ish

I'm pulling this out from the fist post to make it a little more approachable.  I've used this fish dish with next to no liquid as a warm salad under a protein, but with a little broth it makes a fantastically satisfying stew to serve over rice or enjoy like an exotic bowl of chili.  You could even puree it down and serve it as a dip with crostini and vegetables, warm or room temp.

Yield: 5-6 cups
Time: 30-45 min

Ingredients:

1 t olive oil
1/2 cup, onion, small dice
1 small carrot, small dice
1 small celery, small dice
1-2 t cumin seeds
2 t chili powder
8 cardamom pods, seeds only
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup dried red lentils, rinsed
1/2 can unsalted chick peas, rinsed
2 scoops of diced canned tomatoes, plus all the juice from the can
3/4 cup water
2 cloves
1 dash of cinnamon
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach
s&p to taste

Method:

• Heat 1T oil in a small sauce pan.  Sweat the onion, celery, and carrots until just tender crisp.  
• Turn up the heat a bit, add the spices and fry for at least a couple of minutes, stirring often.  The longer you go without scorching, the better, but 2 min is good.
• Add the ginger and the garlic, reduce heat and cook about 30 seconds.  
• Add the lentils, tomato, juice, water and cloves.  Bring up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Cook about 15 minutes, add the chick peas, season with S&P and cinnamon.  
• Return to low heat and let the chickpeas heat through.  You can go soupy on this or you can go dry.  I opted to go dryer, because I was seeking a warm salad (to go under this Moroccan Style Fish dish), but a stew or chili consistancy would also be great.  

Moroccan Style Fish

I've been away from the blog for some time, but I haven't stopped cooking.  The discovery of a friend from the way-back machine has inspired me to get back to the blogging habit.  Thanks Jos!

So, I found myself at the fish case on Saturday making eyes with a beautiful row of whole trout, so I took one home with no particular plan in mind.  I have often picked up little half pounders or smaller and prepared one for each of us - mine with mushrooms, ginger, oyster sauce, scallions, and lime...his with garlic, fennel, lemon, fresh tomato, and basil.

This googly eyed fish was a bigger fella, nearly a full pound, so he'd have to work for both of us.  I rolled at least a half dozen ideas around in my head and settled on something in the Moroccan vein.  I looked up scores of recipes for "Moroccan Style Fish," then started with an amalgamation of the things I liked the best. From there...I kinda went off the rails like I usually do and this is what we ended up with - try it along side this Chick Pea and Lentil Salad.

Yield: 2 servings, plus 2 servings left over grains

Time: 90 min to 3 hours...depending on how long you marinate

Ingredients:

For the Marinade

1 small bunch cilantro (coriander), leaves only, finely chopped...parsley will work too

1 T paprika

1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t coriander seeds (or 1/2 t ground coriander)
1 t black pepper corns (or 1/2 t ground black pepper)

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled (optional)
1 t cumin

1 t salt, or more to taste

1-2 teaspoon ginger 

4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

juice of 1 small lemon

For the Fish
.75 - 1 lb fresh whole fish (or skin on boned fillets or naked...whatever you're comfortable with.  I used trout, but rockfish, bass, grouper, or any nice white fish will do.  Hell use chicken breasts or thighs if you like!)
1 large carrot, cut into long sticks
1 large celery, cut into long sticks
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 russet potato, thinly sliced (didn't have one, so left it out)
1 tomato, thinly sliced or a couple of canned fellas
6-10 olives of your choosing...hate olives?  Try capers or anything briney that you like.
6 dried figs, halved
lemon, thinly sliced
olive oil

Method:

• Heat oven to 425*
• Combine all dry marinade ingredients in a spice grinder and grind.  Mix with all other marinade ingredients.
• Rinse and dry fish.  If using a whole fish, slash both sides about 3-4 times.  Rub marinated, inside and out, be sure to get some in the slashes too.  You should have about half the marinade left.  That's cool.
• Wrap fish in plastic and toss in fridge till you're ready to get it in the oven.  Let marinate up to 2 hours if you have the time.
• Slice up all your other veggies, oil a small roasting pan, just big enough to hold the fish, and make a lattice of the carrots and celery.  The fish will rest on top of this.  Surround the lattice with a later of onion, then top with potato slices, then tomato. 
• Plop the fish on top of the lattice, place some lemon slices and some fig bits inside the fish.  Top the fish with a few slices of lemon, and arrange the remaining figs and the olives around the fish with the maters and stuff. Drizzle or plop the rest of the marinade on top of the veggies.
• Cover the fish tightly in foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake another 20.  (NOTE If you're going with fillets or steaks in lieu of the whole fish, reduce both cook times by half and watch closely after you uncover.  This timing will vary wildly depending on the type of fish and thickness of the cut.)
• If you went with a whole fish you can just cut it in half, or you can try to break it into two nice fillets.  Serve with head and tail on or off...I opted for head off, tail on, easy chop in half.
• Line 2 dinner plates with fresh baby spinach, arrange some of the fish pan veggies and goodies on the plate (maybe add a bit of this in stew or salad form) and top it all with a piece of the fish.  Serve with additional fresh lemon.