Need help from the cooking fiends.

[Pierce Tondry]

Hello hello!

As some of you know, I have recently been posting to the cooking thread. This is not because I know how to cook, or have any grasp of chefery. I'd like to, but that time is not yet.

Flashback to a week ago. The cafeteria I usually eat at (because it is right next door and in walking distance) closed because they weren't making money. Now the alternatives are the expensive Arby's across the street, the crummy chicken place next door, the seafood place that hasn't opened yet, or making my own lunch. This last I have not done because it requires a great deal of foreknowledge about recipes I want to eat. However, having gained some confidence in the kitchen, I now have a new goal: to make people envious of what I eat.

Here is the deal.

I want to be able to bring my lunch to work for an entire week's worth (5 days) of unique, delicious dishes that I can prepare beforehand. However, just any old meal will not do. I want meals that will smell great. So much so, I want my coworkers to die with envy when I heat them up for lunch.

SO! The challenge lies before you oh chefs of SWFans. Can you suggest to me a week's worth recipes that will make people want to eat at my table when they smell what's for lunch? :)

Contributors should know that you will have "my gratitude".

[Xavier Synik]

You talking one recipe for the week, or 5 different recipes per week?

I find the easiest thing to do is to make an extra portion (or half portion depending what it is) when I make dinner and take that for lunch the next day.

But if your looking for something that you could do on the weekend and just put in the fridge, sure we can come up with some things.

Likes/dislikes?

[Ryan Pode]

Things with shrimp and fish usually smell the strongest. If you're looking for strongest smelling, but enticing dishes.

[Pierce Tondry]

5 different recipes for the week. If you only have one really good-smelling recipe to share, by all means share the one. My hope is to have enough to pick and choose. :) And don't worry about advance preparation time. I will make whatever time is necessary to do this.

For likes and dislikes, well I'm pretty much an omnivore although I cannot eat pickles or turkey stuffing. Those aside, I'll try anything once. Also, while I do have a preference for ground beef in my foods, I'm trying to branch out and not limit myself. I'm completely open to try any dish in this (mis)adventure so long as it is relatively nutritious (read, no cookies for the main course).

[Ryan Pode]

You want ground beef? Here's a simple recipe.

In a casserole pan, put in a cup of rice and a half cup of water. Dice up a vidalia onion and a green pepper and add them as well. Marinade a pound of ground beef in some taco seasoning, then brown your pound of ground beef and then toss it in as well. Mix it around so that the rice is spread out and the other ingredients. Cover with foil. Cook it at 425 for about 35-40 minutes. Once you take it out of the oven, cover with a good layer of cheese (I use a mexi-blend).

For serving purposes, I would put in one container this, then in two smaller ones, some guacamole and some sour cream. You can reheat the meaty-rice part and the smell will be great. Then toss on the cold stuff to give you a nice little mexican-beef casserole thing.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lunch = ham and cheese sandwich.

:mneh

Or you could prepare some sort of delicious homemade soup. :yum No recipes to share, sorry.

[Charley]

Soups spread a lot of food out over many days with one preparation. I make a very fragrant butternut squash soup if you like that sort of thing. It would take shrimp like a champ, though I usually eat it without meat. Very versatile.

I need to think about this for a while and give you a really good idea.

[Park Kraken]

A simple Jumbalaya recipe -

Combine 1 cup uncooked yellow or brown rice, add in 3 cups water, boil until water is boiling, then cover and simmer for about 10-20 minutes until water gone and rice is cooked. (correction: the following goes after adding in the three cups of water), Add sliced pre-cooked chicken and polish sausage, plus 3 tablespoons cajun spices and 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, stir together in pot.

[Charley]

Hell with it, here's my butternut squash recipe. I'm adapting this for your use.

What you need:

1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds or so I guess), whole
1.5 quarts chicken stock
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh sage, and a few whole leaves for garnish
4 whole cloves
1 pound medium raw shrimp, deveined & tails removed
Salt and water for brining.

Split the squash in half. Remove and reserve the seeds in a separate dish. Add a very salty brine solution of salt water to the dish, cover, and shake it thoroughly. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350, and bake squash for 30 minutes. Let the squash cool, and peel away the skin with your fingers, breaking the flesh up into rough chunks. Set aside.

Heat your oil in a deep stock pot to pop spices. Add your cumin and cloves, and quickly turn down the heat to low after a few seconds. Add your onion and one tsp of salt, sweat onions with the cover on for 20 minutes.

While you wait, take your reserved brined squash seeds, drain them, clean them, and arrange them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and nutty smelling

Uncover the stock pot, add your wine and your squash, and bring up to a full boil. Boil for a minute or so, then add your stock, and bring it back to a boil for another two minutes.

Remove the pot from heat and set it on a trivet or something. Toss in your cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Using a wand mixer, puree the squash and onions. If you don't have a wand, you can puree in a blender or a food processor. If you don't have those, you can smash it up decently nonetheless with a potato masher if you want. It's up to you. Ideally, you want a smooth puree. Put the pot back on the stove on a medium simmer.

Gently pour in your cream, keeping the heat on a gentle simmer so you don't throw the emulsion. Work your fresh sage and your shrimp into the soup now, folding gently and stirring. Let the soup simmer for another five more minutes, then take it off the heat. Season to taste.

Ladle into a soup bowl, and garnish with the toasted squash seeds on top, and a leaf of fresh sage.

Serve with crostini from a toasted baguette, or some focaccia bread.

[Wyl Staedtler]

Pasta dishes are also really easy to make, reheat well, are cheap, and can be very aromatic. Cut up some chicken breast and cook it in lemon juice and olive oil on a stove top, with some pepper and salt and garlic. Add that to whatever pasta you've made and mix in some cut up cherry tomatoes, a bit of fresh parsley, kalamata olives, a pinch of grated lemon zest, possibly some big cloves of roasted garlic if you're feelin' snazzy. Pair it with a nice mixed salad or even just a basic mozarella-tomato-fresh-basil thing and there's the money there, son.

Or you could do something with salmon. A salmon-avocado-havarti panini or something, with fresh dill and a side of oven-roasted veg; bell peppers and mushrooms and some asparagus maybe?

Lunch is not my forte :(