Tag: schiscetta

Schiscetta in winter: how to make the break more delicious – Italian Cuisine

In the Milanese dialect it is known as "schiscetta": and the lunch box that students and workers take around with them for an economic taste break. It is simply an airtight plastic, metal food container with several compartments, established in common parlance in Lombardy and in much of the north. In the capital, however, it is better known as "fagottaro", while in the south, especially between Calabria and Sicily, it is called "truscia" (bundle that contains a frugal meal). But, as often happens with linguistic evolution, the literal meaning has incorporated the semantic one and so today by "schiscetta" we mean the contents of the lunch box itself.

The schiscetta: from its origins to today

The curious term "schiscetta" derives from the Milanese dialect "schiscià", Or to crush, precisely because the food was originally crushed inside the container. In fact, initially, before the company canteens could feed the workers, it was up to the wives to prepare the schiscetta, a metal box that contained the leftovers from the night before, for their husbands. Just like the wife of Marcovaldo, the protagonist of the famous short story by Italo Calvino (contained in the collection Marcovaldo, or the seasons in the city) who prepares the "dish" (as the writer defines it) for the laborer consort. But today the schiscetta no longer identifies only the worker's lunch break. Indeed, more and more employees and students (for convenience, savings and even health) prefer to bring food from home.

The schiscetta in winter: what to bring to the office

However, while in summer you can take advantage of the hot season to eat something fresh, such as salads and cold first courses (rice salad, vegetable and chicken couscous, cold pasta, etc.), in winter preparing the schiscetta is more complex. especially if you do not have the possibility to reheat food. What to bring to the office then?

4 suggestions for the winter schiscetta

For a typically winter schiscetta to be enjoyed without using the microwave, you can choose to combine seasonal ingredients in a creative and fanciful way, so as not to give up taste but without weighing down the stomach during working hours. Here are some suggestions.

Savory pies

The savory pie is an "evergreen" preparation: you can prepare it according to your tastes with cold cuts, cheeses or seasonal vegetables. Just buy a roll of puff pastry (or shortcrust pastry), prick it and stuff it as you prefer. If you choose vegetables, however, make sure that they are well dry, so that they do not soften the pastry too much. Also remember that the quiche cannot be kept in the fridge until the time of the lunch break, so for the filling, opt for long-life or cooked ingredients. We offer you our savory pie with spinach, gorgonzola and hazelnuts and the savory pumpkin pie.

Homemade sandwich

Homemade bread is much more genuine and nutritious and can be stuffed in different ways. For a quick break at the office, for example, you could eat two slices of homemade wholemeal bread with walnuts with salami (or other cured meats) and a side of grilled vegetables. Alternatively, if you buy bread at the bakery, choose one with natural leavening, cereals, with sesame or poppy seeds, which is more digestible. The lunch break will be well balanced on a nutritional level.

Fast food sandwiches

If you are a lover of fast food sandwiches and you absolutely do not want to give up a good hamburger sandwich, prepare it at home. Just choose a loaf of soft bread, grill the pork (or chicken) hamburger, add a few slices of cheese and 2-3 dried tomatoes in oil.

Winter first courses

There is also plenty of space for first courses with seasonal ingredients that can also be enjoyed at room temperature, such as quinoa with broccoli, ginger and trio of sprouts or orzotto with apples, turnips and walnuts. Just prepare the dish the night before, let it cool and then store it in the lunch box.

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Summer-flavored quinoa salad, the perfect light schiscetta! – Italian Cuisine

A quinoa-based schiscetta to face the lunch break lightly. Especially in view of the summer and the heat

With the arrival of summer, eating a light and tasty bite during lunch break is always a pleasure, especially outdoors. Quinoa: here is our proposal for this week.

Quinoa salad and dried tomatoes

This is a unique dish rich in nutrients, healthy and light, perfect to put in a jar and to take to work.
Preparing it is very simple and you can do it the night before and keep it for a few days. Our advice, in fact, is to make a good amount.
First cook the quinoa, not by boiling it in water, but by toasting it first in a pan and then blending it with water or broth.
Season it once cold with thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes in oil, avocado, lots of fresh mint and basil, desalted capers, pine nuts, cucumbers cut into small cubes and primosale cheese.
If you don't like cheeses, natural tuna will also be good.
Vegans, on the other hand, can opt for legumes. Cannellini beans, fresh broad beans or edamame are the ideal combinations.

The perfect cooking of quinoa

Let's go back for a moment to cooking quinoa because this is an important step and not everyone knows how to do it.
Sometimes this fake cereal, in fact, can be a little pimp after cooking because it absorbs too much water and becomes soft.
We, however, want the beans to remain distinct and retain some of their crunchiness.
How to do? First, wash the quinoa very well under running water to remove the saponin.
Then let it drain for a long time and toast it in a pan with a classic sauté if you like or just with oil.
Add boiling water or broth after a few minutes and let them absorb.
When the beans have swelled and are almost transparent, turn off the heat and let it cool.
During cooking, add a little water at a time if you see that it is not enough, but do not overdo it because in the end the liquid part must be completely absorbed.

How to season the schiscetta

To avoid that it absorbs too much oil and that the quinoa loses a little consistency, put oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice on the bottom of the container which can be a glass jar or a container with an airtight plastic closure.
When eating the meal, shake it well to mix all the flavors and evenly distribute the seasoning.

If you don't like quinoa

No problem, you can use spelled, brown rice, barley, couscous and bulgur.
These cereal salads are always good and can be enriched in many different ways.
They are a very valid solution for lunch because in a single dish we find all the nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
To give color and flavor, also play a lot with spices and aromatic herbs, so avoid using too much salt.
Here we suggested mint and basil, but oregano is also excellent.

We prepare the Bento box, the schiscetta in the Japanese version – Italian Cuisine

Is called Bento and it is the Japanese version of the Milanese schiscetta: for those not accustomed to the Milanese dialect it is the food prepared at home and stored in a special container for the lunch break. In Japan it is a tradition that goes back more than 400 years ago, when the peasants used to take their Bento boxes to the fields while they cultivated the land. Even today it is easy to see groups of boys or men in suits and ties consuming their Bento in the city meadows in the shade of cherry trees in bloom.

Balance and aesthetics

In Japan, preparing the bento box is art, as is composing a bouquet of flowers (ikebana) or offering a cup of tea. The goodness of food cannot be disconnected from the aesthetics of the composition, so every Bento box is an explosion of creativity and refinement. In addition to balance in the association of foods. And among these, you can't miss rice, in the form of onigiri, sushi or inari sushi.

And now we prepare our Bento Box based on onigiri, fried chicken, omelette and boiled rocket

Ingredients for 2 onigiri

80 ml rice, 80 ml water, nori seaweed, 180 g salmon, 1 teaspoon kastuobuoshi (dried tuna), 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Method

Let the rice soak for an hour before cooking it. Then pour it into a pot with cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes and then turn off, cover with a lid and let stand 10 minutes more. Once the rice has cooled down, make balls of it, there will be 4. In the meantime, let the salmon soak for half an hour in water with a pinch of salt. Then remove the salmon and spread it on a sheet of foil, spread a pinch of salt on both sides and then wrap it in cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes. Oil a pan and brown the salmon on both sides. Put the dried tuna in a bowl and add a teaspoon of soy sauce. Now make a hole in the center of each rice ball and put a little salmon in it and in the other two a bit of dried tuna mixed with soy. Close up and with your hands formed triangles, which you will wrap with a sheet of nori seaweed. Leave your onigiri aside and dedicate yourself to chicken.

Ingredients for fried chicken

600 g chicken, 1/2 grated apple, 1 teaspoon of grated ginger, 2 tablespoons of sake, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of potato starch, 3 tablespoons of flour, olive oil for frying

Method

cut the chicken into pieces and leave it in a bowl with the grated apple and ginger, sake, soy and salt. Mix well, cover with a foil and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Put the flour and potato starch in a bag and then the chicken pieces. Shake well so that the chicken pieces are covered with flour. Pour the oil in a saucepan, let it heat until it reaches 180 ° and then pour the chicken bites, a few at a time, so that they brown well. Once ready, drain them on a sheet of absorbent paper.

Ingredients for rocket

200 g rocket, 4 tablespoons of toasted white sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons of mirin, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

Method

Boil the rocket in hot water and then drain it in a bowl with ice. In a mortar, mince the sesame seeds and then add the mirin, sugar and soy and mix. Meanwhile drain the rocket, squeeze it and cut it into a banner. Then add the rocket with sesame seeds and stir.

Ingredients for the omelette

2 eggs, a tablespoon of mirin, 1/2 spoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce, oil for frying.

Method

in a bowl beat the eggs, then add the sugar, the mirin, the soy sauce and mix well. Oil a rectangular pan, separate the eggs into three parts and cook one at a time, rolling it up on itself each time, using a spatula. Then put the rolled omelette on the makisu (stuoietta), roll it well and let it rest. Then gently open the makisu and cut the omelette into 8 pieces, which you will slice through two on wooden sticks.

Ingredients for wustel

2 wustel, 2 teaspoons of ketchup, sesame seeds, olive oil.

Method

Cut the wustel in half and then with a sharp knife cut it vertically to form the 8 tentacles of the octopus. Oil a pan and then crush the wustel from above so that the tentacles divide and cook well. Then add the ketchup and stir. Attach two black sesame seeds as eyes to each wustel to create the eyes of the octopus.

At this point all the ingredients are placed in the Bento Box: the onigiri, the skewers of omelette, the pieces of chicken and the rocket with the baby octopus. Your Bento Box is ready to be enjoyed, even with your eyes!