Bored with your office lunch? Does a sandwich leave you feeling bloated or tired in the afternoon? Tudor Parkโs new Executive Head Chef Alfonso Salvaggio has put together a selection of packed lunch ideas that will stimulate the taste buds as well as the brain cells.
Alfonso (pictured left) and his 13-strong team of chefs are experienced in creating beautiful buffets for business lunches, meetings and conferences that help energise as well as being delicious.
Throughout the summer, the four-star Tudor Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club in Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent, has been ringing the changes on business meetings by offering an outdoor experience โ weather permitting โ and a picnic hamper of salads and light bites that beats being stuck in the boardroom hands down!
Some of those dishes have been recreated for readers of PA Life, so you too can give your lunch break a summer makeover. First out of the lunchbox is smoked salmon and pappardelle pasta salad (see recipe below).
Within a few months of Alfonso Salvaggioโs arrival at Tudor Park, the hotel has revamped all its menus across its fine dining Conical restaurant, its Zest sports bar, and in the Mezzanine Bar. With a strong focus on British produced ingredients โ including ice cream, meat, cheese and charcuterie โ the new menus will also delight foodies, as each carries a fascinating explanation of where products have been sourced.
Alfonso Salvaggioโs top three tips for inspiring packed lunches:
- Buy the freshest ingredients possible and slice, dice, or deseed in bulk to give you several daysโ worth of lovely lunches.
- Add crunch to salads with toasted pine nuts and croutons, but keep them wrapped in foil and sprinkle over your salad at the last minute; otherwise they will go soggy.
- Even the least inspiring salad can be transformed with a tongue-tingling dressing. Make your own on a Sunday night, pop in the fridge and it will last the whole week.
Smoked salmon pasta salad
Makes five portions
500g pappardelle or tagliatelle egg pasta
200g smoked salmon
2 tablespoons capers
1 bunch of spring onions
1 jar of pesto or homemade (see below)
Small punnet of cherry tomatoes
Squeeze of lemon juice
Black pepper
4 tabs of extra virgin olive oil
1 tab of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Method:
- Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, but slightly longer than al dente.
- Once cooked, rinse the pasta in a colander under cold water to stop it sticking together. Drain and sprinkle slightly with half of the olive oil. Keep aside.
- Finely slice the spring onion and slice the smoked salmon into thin strips. Halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Combine the pasta with the tomatoes, smoked salmon, capers and spring onions. Stir in the pesto with the rest of the extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and squeeze of lemon juice. Combine thoroughly. It will keep in the fridge for up to three days.
If youโd like to make your own pesto, hereโs how:
Put the leaves from a large pot of supermarket basil into a blender and whiz with 20g grated Parmesan, one clove of crushed garlic, 20g toasted pine nuts and 100ml olive oil. Pour into a container and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week.
Check back in next week for Alfonso’s second delicious recipe.
