Lunch: fifteen minutes and it’s ready!

Preparing tasty and nutritious lunches for the whole family in a quarter of an hour? It is entirely possible. Three stove specialists have proved it to us with these practical recipes that are super easy to adapt according to what you have in the fridge.

Long live the remains!

The concept behind this recipe is simple: “We do rice and stir-fry for dinner, and we do some more for lunch. It’s a good shortcut so we have almost nothing to do for lunch,” advises Geneviève O’Gleman, nutritionist and host for the show. Enjoy.

This Pork and Apple Rice Salad, from his book Lunchesis full of contrasts: both fresh and comforting, tender and crunchy, sweet and spicy… In addition, it can be stored for two days in the refrigerator.

“I think it’s even better the next day because the rice will soak up the vinaigrette, which will protect the apple from oxidation,” says Geneviève O’Gleman.

But its greatest asset is undoubtedly its adaptability: once you acquire the recipe, you can have fun replacing the brown rice with any other rice (since the salad is already rich in fiber) or even couscous; pork can be replaced with grilled chicken; apples, of pears; spinach, with arugula or another green; cranberries, with chopped dried apricots…

You can also vary the dressings and add cheese cubes, e.g. a strong cheddar.

“I have made it so many times at home with different ingredients. We go with what we have; it’s really a canvas that’s easy to adapt,” points out Geneviève O’Gleman.

Pork and apple rice salad

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

ingredients

• 1 apple
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1/2 French shallot
• 500 ml (2 cups) cooked brown rice
• 500 ml (2 cups) cooked diced roast pork
• 250 ml (1 cup) baby spinach
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) dried cranberries
• 160 ml (2/3 cup) maple vinaigrette (see recipe below)
• Pepper and salt

Preparation

• 1. Cut the apple into cubes, thinly slice the celery and finely chop the shallot.
• 2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Pepper generously and add a pinch of salt.
• 3. Divide into 4 airtight containers. Cool down.

Maple vinaigrette

ingredients

• 60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) apple juice
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) maple syrup
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Dijon mustard
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) cider vinegar
• A pinch of salt

Preparation

• 1. Put all the ingredients in a jar.
• 2. Close the lid and shake.

Keeps for five days in the fridge.

Freshness in a tortilla

Here’s another lunch idea that will again make good use of leftovers from the night before.

This four-topping tortilla served with a fruit and vegetable pudding, two recipes from the book Everything for lunch, by the founder of L’Escouade Culinaire Sonia Lizotte, can be rejected in several versions. We therefore do not want to have the impression of always eating the same thing!

The technique that Sonia Lizotte uses to fold the tortilla makes it possible to isolate the vegetables and “leaves” (spinach or lettuce) from the other ingredients; they will thus retain their freshness and crispness for the next day – and even for the day after.

You can use strips of beef or other precooked meat, but for a vegetarian lunch, just replace the meat with grilled tofu or precooked legumes. You can also replace the peppers with asparagus or another grilled vegetable, or the cream cheese with hummus or spicy mayonnaise, whichever you prefer.

Four topping tortillas

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

ingredients

• 4 large tortillas
• 150 g (1 cup) leftover cooked, coarsely chopped meat (chicken, pork, beef, etc.)
• 250 ml (1 cup) cream cheese
• 30 g (1 cup) baby spinach or lettuce
• 1 large red pepper, cut into strips, or leftover grilled vegetables

Preparation

• 1. Place the tortillas on the work surface.
• 2. Use a knife to make a cut from the center to the edge of each.
• 3. Spread the remaining ingredients on a quarter of each tortilla.
• 4. Fold each quarter over on itself to form a triangle-shaped sandwich.

Fruit and vegetable pudding

Makes 4 to 6 servings

ingredients

• 150g (1 cup) frozen fruit of your choice
• 180g (1 cup) beetroot, cooked and roughly chopped (pre-cooked beetroot is easily found in supermarkets) or leftover cooked carrots
• 750 ml (3 cups) vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• 25 g (1/4 cup) ground flaxseed

Preparation

• Mix all the ingredients in a blender until you get a smooth and creamy consistency.

“Touski” lunch

Nancy Bordeleau made this “touski” salad at the last minute before going to an impromptu barbecue with friends. She used what she had on hand…and her dish was a hit. “Everyone loves pasta salads,” she notes.

This salad also has the advantage that it is super quick to prepare, even if you start from scratch, emphasizes the author of the blog Cinq Fourchettes and the book It’s lunch time!.

We use the tortellini’s cooking time to cut the ingredients – and all that’s left is to mix. You can also use already cooked pasta (which you make sure to coat with olive oil when you set aside).

Vegetarian, since tortellini is cheesy, this salad can also be enhanced with the addition of grilled chicken. And although it consists of food items that we often have in the fridge, it can easily be adjusted according to what we have in store. No peppers or red onions? Tomatoes and shallots are used, for example.

“The kitchen must always adapt to the family’s tastes, but also to discover new flavors,” says Nancy Bordeleau.

Greek tortellini salad

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: 5 to 8 minutes

ingredients

• 2 packs of 350 gram cheese tortellini
• 60 to 90 ml (to taste) basil pesto
• 1 cup coarsely crumbled feta
• 1 cup Kalamata olives, halved
• 1 red pepper, diced
• A quarter of a red onion, finely chopped
• Pepper

Preparation

• 1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Prefer al dente cooking.
• 2. Mix all the ingredients. Pepper to taste.
• 3. Leave in the fridge for a few hours for an optimal flavor mixture. However, the salad is very good eaten straight away.