Love your Lunch
RECIPES FROM THE KITCHEN OF SMALL WORLD
For most people lunch is not much more than a sandwich with ham or cheese or possibly a salad. That’s too bad because the content of your lunchbox can look much tastier. Sean Wainer, owner of the successful Amsterdam lunch café Small World, shows you how to do it.
Love your Lunch includes all the favorite dishes from Small World, from the most delicious sandwiches, salads, soups and ‘the big guys’, recipes that even satisfy the greatest eaters. But also the popular cookies, muffins and pies are featured. Over 60 recipes, with a wide choice for vegetarians, making each lunch a party.
Love Your Lunch is about ‘comfort food’ with an elegant twist. Sean Wainer shows you how to create the most delicious lunches with the best ingredients and simple techniques. The recipes are not only tried and tested by the chefs of Small World, but also by people with less cooking experience. They work and they are delicious!
Come get your copy at our shop.
To get you started:
INGREDIENTS:
75g walnuts
sea salt
300g haricots verts, topped and tailed
1 tablespoon olive oil
a few grinds black pepper
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
75g parmesan cheese
Haricots Verts
WITH ROASTED WALNUTS AND PARMESAN SHAVINGS
This salad has been in Small World from Day One, and always sells out. Of all of our dishes, besides our desserts, this is the only dish that has stayed with us every day. It’s still winning everyone over. Simple, but simplicity at its best. Makes 4 side salads
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Spread the walnuts over a baking tray and pop them into the oven for 10 minutes. You want them nicely roasted, and crunchy. Leave them to cool.
Bring a large saucepan of water the boil, and lightly salt it. Add the haricots to the pan and cook 3 minutes, or until al dente. Drain in a colander, and briefly rinse under cold water (this stops the cooking process). Dry the beans with a tea towel, and place in a large bowl. Drizzle over the olive oil and lightly toss the beans. Salt and pepper the salad now. Dot the mustard over the beans in little bits, so it mixes evenly with the beans. Break the nuts into 1 cm-pieces, and lightly mix into the salad.
I like to use a potato peeler to shave the parmesan into the salad, others like to grate it in. Make sure there are large strips as these look nice, and give a good bite of parmesan. You don’t want to mix the salad so much now as you need to avoid breaking the cheese into little pieces. It’s now ready! Serve as a side dish with a main meal, or on a salad platter, for lunch.
Here you’ll find the recipe in PDF.
Ingredients:
1.5k minced beef, not too lean
2 tablespoons olive oil
200g carrots, chopped into 1-cm pieces
100g celery, chopped into 1-cm pieces
100g onions, chopped
150g frozen peas
100g courgettes, chopped into 1-cm pieces
100g green bell peppers, chopped into 1-cm pieces
600g chopped tomatoes (tinned are fine)
300g tomato sauce for pasta (tomato coulis)
1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup (tomato sauce, in Australian)
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons granulated onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
720g good-quality puff pastry, thawed (you will need the equivalent of sixteen 13×13-cm squares of pastry)
2 eggs, beaten
1 beef or chicken stock cube, crumbled
Aussie Beef Pies
Meat pies are to Australians what hamburgers are to Americans and croquettes are to the Dutch. They are a national staple and come in many varieties, from cheap ‘fast food’ versions to those you buy at high-quality pastry shops. But one thing you can be sure of–Australians will always enjoy them with a healthy dousing of ketchup. So when I started my shop, meat pies were a must-have, and this is the version we came up with. The beef and vegetable mix is best made the day before. This allows the flavours to blend, and also makes it easier to put into the pastries.
Method:
Place a large saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the minced beef and brown well, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander. Add the olive oil to the pan, then the carrots and celery. Cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and the crumbled stock cube, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the peas, sauté a couple of minutes, then add the courgettes and peppers. Cook for another 5 minutes, then return the beef to the pan. Stir in the tomatoes and pasta sauce, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the ketchup and Worcestershire Sauce, stir to mix, then add the paprika, granulated onion, salt and pepper, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until cold.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Roll out the puff pastry to about 1/2 cm-thick. Use a bread and butter plate as a stencil to create two rounds for the pie tins, one for the bottom and sides and one for the top. Line four 3 cm-deep x 9.5 cm-round pie tins with pastry. Divide the beef mixture amongst the pies. Brush the pastry edges with a little egg, lay the second pastry-round on top, and gently press together. The egg will act as your glue. Brush the top of the pies with the remaining egg, to make a nice glaze, and pop into the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with lashings of ketchup.
Here you’ll find the recipe in PDF.
Ingredients:
250g plain white flour
150g extra-fine granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 eggs, beaten
250ml buttermilk
115g butter, melted
100g mixed fresh or frozen berries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Berry Buttermilk Muffins
Berry muffin is a favourite all around the world, so of course I wanted it on the menu at Small World. And, as expected, it’s a big hit! I like using buttermilk here because it adds a hint of freshness. It’s essential to keep the batter light and fluffy, much more so than with the banana or carrot muffin recipes.
Method:
Preheat oven to 175°C. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and the melted butter. Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then fold in the fresh fruit. If you are using large berries such as strawberries, quarter them, but leave smaller berries, such as blueberries or raspberries, whole.
Arrange paper cups in a muffin tin, and spoon in the batter until a centimetre from the top. If you are using frozen berries, scatter them on top of the muffins. Bake large muffins 30 minutes, smaller ones 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. The muffins are ready when you press the top of one and it bounces back slightly. Leave to cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes.
Here you’ll find the recipe in PDF.
Enjoy!