3 ideas for a non-fried lunch
What to cook for lunch is a question you probably ask yourself several times a week. Apparently, there are many options, but this is where the biggest problem lies, as ideally, it should be quick, but at the same time tasty and good for your health. Even if making one dish that meets these 3 criteria can be a challenge, there are some quality ideas out there for cooking a quick non-fried meal, i.e. using the oven to make it. So, what would be a good pick?
Why use the oven instead of the frying pan? Above all, when frying, ingredients, including meat, absorb fat heavily while losing vitamins. In addition, if you don’t brown the meat enough, you can end up with a situation where it’s raw on the inside and dry on the outside. Frying requires you to be more attentive, whereas using the oven and some baking accessories, i.e. sleeves, bags, or paper means that the problem is gone. So what to prepare for lunch without having to fry it?
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Baked new potatoes
It’s a good option for those who like seasonal vegetables – you can add young carrots or beetroot to the potatoes, but potatoes by themselves with a herb dressing taste just as delicious. The secret of the dish is the new potatoes, well-scrubbed but with the skin on, soaked in a herb and olive oil marinade. You can prick the veggies in a few places beforehand to make them better absorb the flavour. Instead of dumping the vegetables in an ovenproof dish, place them in roasting bags, which you need to close tightly with a clip. When taken out of the oven after 45 minutes, the dish will be extremely aromatic.
“Roasted vegetables are a way for many people to have a quick and health-boosting lunch or dinner. If you don’t want the dish to be dry, but nicely browned and crispy, use baking bags. They also do a good job when used for small pieces of meat – roast thighs, for example – the meat will remain juicy, and the marinade will release its flavour into the sauce. Using bags has another unquestionable advantage – you won’t dirty the oven and the baking tin, “ explains Marta Krokowicz.
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Aromatic puff pastry tart
It’s an idea for a quick lunch which at the same time will make it easy for you to clean out your fridge. It’s so because, in fact, you can use many ingredients as tart filling – leftover cold cuts, pieces of cheese, vegetables, or slightly wilted herbs – which will be drowned in a cream and egg mixture that you’ll pour over a ready-to-cook puff pastry bottom. After 20 to 25 minutes, when the edges of the pastry are browned and the ingredients on top are toasted, the dish is ready.
“We often bake savoury tarts and quiches in round ceramic tins. After the dish has been eaten, the tin needs washing and sometimes scrubbing because of the ingredients stuck to its walls and the grease it’s covered in. If you want to avoid it, it’s a good idea to line the bottom of the tin with baking paper and place the ingredients on it. This way, the dish won’t dirty the tin, and it will be easy to cut and serve it. It’s worth trying out this practical tip,” suggests Paclan employee Marta Krokowicz and adds: “If you’re one of those people who steer clear of ready-made dough, you should probably make your favourite tart base on your own in larger quantities, then portion the dough, and freeze it. For that, use small freezer bags and label them with the name of the dough and the date.”
For more information on the principles of freezing read our article on the subject.
If you have more time and expect guests
Oven lunches are not only great for your everyday nutrition but also for special occasions and big feasts, although then the preparation usually also requires more time. Especially if you care to roast a turkey or duck whole. First, you need to clean and dry the meat thoroughly. Then you prepare a herbal marinade from oil and your favourite spices and rub the meat well, keeping in mind the inside as well. You then marinate it for several hours, or preferably overnight in the fridge. You can also roast it with root vegetables or, if a duck will be served, orange slices and cranberries. Put the prepared dish in a baking sleeve and then in a roasting tin, which you need to place in the oven for about 1.5 – 2 hours. Before the very end of baking, you can cut the sleeve so that the top browns nicely without losing its juiciness.
“A roast turkey or duck is synonymous with a dinner for the whole family and quite a feast. Of course, as long as the meat retains its juiciness and isn’t raw inside and burnt on the outside. Unfortunately, even the best of housewives can have bad luck – e.g. if the heating in the oven plays tricks. To avoid disappointment, it’s advisable to roast poultry in a special sleeve. When choosing it, it’s advisable to pay attention to whether it’s the right size. A turkey, duck, or goose roasted whole is quite a large dish, so a standard sleeve may turn out to be too small. Our products include special sleeves for such baked food. It’s easy to recognise them, as their packaging is marked with a large XXL sign,” says Marta Krokowicz and adds: “Once you’ve found the right roasting sleeve, you’ll be thankful, because the meat will be juicy, aromatic, and evenly roasted, and the meat juices mixed with the spices will be the basis for a gravy that will perfectly enrich the taste of the festive dinner!”
The no-fry recipes discussed above are worth considering as inspiration and a direction you can follow if you want to eat tasty and health-boosting food, both daily and on special occasions”. Baked dishes will please any palate while requiring little attention when being cooked. Now that all doubts have been dispelled, only one question remains – what to bake for lunch today?