Recently, My friend (Zoe) and I spent the day together and decided that as opposed to ordering unhealthy fast food for lunch, we would attempt to utilise ingredients within the house to make a fresh, healthy lunch. Another reason that we decided to make a veg-based meal from home as opposed to from an outside chain is due to the harmful environmental impacts fast food restaurants project; in regards to greenhouse gas emissions as well as the slaughtering of animals for meat (cows, chicken) (LO6). In maintaining our environmental consciousness, we also decided to be mindful of our use of electricity/gas in the cooking process of the food, so we opted to make a meal that required minimal use of domestic electrical appliances.
Initially, we struggled to figure out what we wanted to make as we wanted a nutritious, delicious, and quick meal, but after experimenting and thinking about ingredient combinations we decided to make brioche sandwiches with veggies and scamorza. We began to plan what steps would be taken as well as who would be in charge of what tasks. It was established that I would wash and prep the veggies, and Zoe would work on heating and prepping the buns. The method was as follows:
- Wash the vegetables (tomato’s, bell peppers, cucumbers)
- Cut the vegetables
- Cut the buns
- Add cream cheese and scamorza to the buns
- Assemble with the veggies
When looking at the method, it seems as though this process would be quite straightforward but due to the fact that a lot of preparation went into it, making the meal was more time consuming. With that being said, having a partner in the kitchen made the process a bit quicker as well as more enjoyable as it was also a learning and social experience (LO5). It was also useful to cook with Zoe as we were able to think logically about how we would tackle problems faced along the way. For example, when we went to assemble the brioche buns we noticed that they had been completely frozen – as opposed to waiting for them to defrost, Zoe had the idea to put them into the panini press which resulted in the buns getting soft quickly, a nice toasted texture & taste, as well as the cheese melting nicely on top.