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With this lunchbox I especially love the sweet potato salad with spring onions, two ingredients that I always eat together. When I was young my family had a big veggie patch with spring onions and I used to eat them right from the ground! They were so sweet! Today I still often add them to salads or roasted vegies, they give any savoury dish an instantly lift. Plus I do love gradient colour in a vegetable! And I am a mega fan of roasting vegetables for a lunch time salad – just shove your vegetable of choice in the oven, do something around the house, then you come back to it half an hour later and it is FINISHED! This Ploughman’s lunch is particularly easy to make, with most of the items being store bought, it’s just a matter of pack and go the night before!
FOR THE PASTRAMI ROLL
Ingredients
100g pastrami
(my preferred brand is Bertocchi/Tibaldi)
1/4 purple cabbage, shredded
1/2 white cabbage, shredded
Best Foods mayonnaise
Dill pickles
Dench Bakers seedy sourdough grain roll/s
Method
Slice a fresh roll in half, and spread the bottom with a thick slathering of mayonnaise, then layer with a few slice of pastrami, shredded cabbage and thinly sliced dill pickles. Dijon or English mustard is also a nice inclusion if you like a bit of bite!
FOR THE SWEET POTATO SALAD
Ingredients
Sweet potatoes, sliced into discs about 1cm thick
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
3-4 basil leaves, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of spring onions chopped
Balsamic dressing
(2 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar, a dash of dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste).
Method
Slice the sweet potatoes about 1cm think and place into a roasting dish. Toss a homemade balsamic dressing over the sweet potatoes, and roast for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degrees. Once the sweet potato is cooked, let it cool and toss through the mixed herbs. Dress with a little more balsamic dressing and it’s done!
FOR THE SAVOURY SNACKS
Ingredients
Chunk of Maasdam swiss cheese
Dill pickles
(I like Marco Polo brand, or for a local option The Pickle Bear)
Carrs water crackers Just a few snack tidbits for your mid morning pick up!
FOR THE HEDGEHOG
Ingredients
1 x packet milk coffee biscuits
125g butter
125g caster sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 egg, lightly beaten
Icing
1½ cups icing sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cocoa
2-3 tbsp water
Method
Crush biscuits either by hand or a food processor, but remember to leave in some chunky bits for that authentic hedgehog texture! I find it’s best to put the biscuits in a clean plastic bag and then whack it a few times with a rolling pin. In a small saucepan, melt butter and sugar. Add the coconut and cocoa. Remove from the heat and stir in beaten egg. Add your broken biscuits into this chocolatey mix, and press into a log/bread shaped tin with the back of a spoon. To make icing, combine icing sugar and cocoa in a bowl and stir in enough water to form a spreadable paste. Spread icing over slice and refrigerate overnight (this makes slicing much easier). Cut into squares or fingers. So easy – no cooking required!
