Most working folks would agree that cooking a fine meal at home is nothing less than a luxury nowadays because everyone is always pressed for time. For food lovers living in cities, finding fresh food straight out of farms is not that simple.
Hence most people rely on canned food items that can be procured all 365 days of the year.
Convenience, comfort and the ease of making dishes using canned food work in favour of these preserved items, and surprisingly some of these packed foods are actually good for health when used in moderation. While mostly in new age restaurants and bars, chefs prefer to use all freshly prepared purees and sauces, a lot of people also prefer readymade ones for richer, bolder flavours with much more nutrient value at times.
Tarun Sibal, chef consultant at Sidecar and co-founder of One Fine Meal, explains, “Almost all kinds of canned food can be used to prepare soups and quick meals. Readymade items such as tomato puree, tomato paste, corn, coconut cream, mushroom, bamboo shoots, canned vegetables, meats etc are easily available in the markets today. It is safe to use canned food, and it’s almost become a part of the lifestyle. The mainstay of our diet should be fresh local produce but having said that canned food especially the ones without the added dose of preservative provide an alternative to the busy lifestyles of many people. However, most of the restaurants headed or run by professional chefs are far more inclined to use fresh produce as obviously, they are far more beneficial for health as well as flavourful.”
Most good quality canned food items come with a detailed description of calories and information on the added ingredients, so it is easy to pick the ones with low calorie and use it to prepare day to day items like salads, sandwich, soups etc. Some of the popular canned items that are used by professional chefs are tomato sauce, olives, fruit preserves for desserts and exotic ingredients that are not found in all seasons.
“Depending on the cuisine most chefs store the items they need. For example, in an oriental kitchen oyster sauce could be the most prominent canned item vis-a-vis in an Italian kitchen tomato sauce could be taking the pole position. Canned foods are normally stored in cool dry conditions, some need to be refrigerated, but once you open a can, you should remove the entire ingredients from the can and all the items should be used at the earliest,” sums up Sibal.
Here are three easy recipes that one can prepare in minutes using canned and fresh ingredients:
Chicken and Corn Soup (Topped with fried eggs and fennel pickle)
Ingredients
- 250 gm chicken slices, grilled
- 2 eggs
- 5 gm onions, chopped
- 1 gm garlic
- 200 gm canned corn
- 5 ml jalapeno brine
- Butter, salt, pepper and fennel pickle as per taste
- Olive oil to sauté the ingredients
Chicken and Corn Soup
Method
- Sauté chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. Add canned corn, salt and pepper, jalapeno brine. Let it cool and then puree in a blender. Heat it up again add butter. Added grilled chicken slices to the mix.
- Finish with a fried egg and fennel pickle (cooked in salt, chilli, sugar, and vinegar).
Prosciutto Toast
(With goat cheese, rocket leaves, bourbon honey glaze, and walnuts)
Ingredients
- 2 sourdough bread slices
- Goat cheese as per taste
- Couple of rocket leaves
- A pinch of salt and pepper
- Two slices of prosciutto(raw cured Italian ham)
(for glaze)
- 100 ml bourbon whisky
- A tbsp of honey and butter
- Toasted walnuts for garnish
Prosciutto Toast
Method
(for prosciutto toast)
- Toast two sourdough bread slices. Apply goat cheese.
- Add rocket leaves, and pinch of salt and pepper.
- Place two slices of prosciutto on each toast.
(for the glaze)
- Heat the bourbon whisky with honey and a hint of butter. When its starts coating the back of the spoon, pour it over the toast and finish the dish with adding toasted walnuts.
Quinoa Salad (With cranberry dressing, roasted beets, and greens)
Ingredients
- 80 gm quinoa
- Handful of chopped beetroots
- Sugar, vinegar, black pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon as per taste
- A few leaves of rocket, lettuce, mint, and basil
(for cranberry dressing)
- cranberry sauce, salt pepper, olive oil, fresh lemons as per taste
Method
- Boil quinoa. Pickle the beetroots by cooking them in a brine (brine is a high-concentration solution) of sugar and vinegar, black pepper, bay leaf and cinnamon.
- Prepare the greens such as rocket, lettuce, mint, and basil.
- Make cranberry dressing by mixing cranberry sauce, salt, pepper, olive oil and some fresh lemon juice.
- Add the dressing to the quinoa and plate up the salad by alternating greens, quinoa, and beets.
- Finish with chopped beets on top.
