Our hot lunch wagon presents a hot lunch you can take to work or school. Our recipes are quick, easy and less than 30 minutes to cook. Cook our recipes the night before, refrigerate and reheat the next day. Or, on the other hand, you can cook our meals and freeze them for next week’s lunch. Our special today is Little Fish Turnovers
HOT LUNCH WAGON: Little Fish Turnovers
½ cup chopped mushrooms
¼ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped celery
2 strips bacon dried
½ cup chopped carrot
¼ cup converted rice
2 whole tomatoes from a can, crushed with your hands
1 ¼ cups water
½ teaspoon dried tarragon
Freshly ground pepper to taste
½ teaspoon salt
1 fillet sole (about 4 ounces)
2 (8 ounce) tubes Pillsbury crescent rolls
- Finely chop the mushrooms, celery, carrot, and onion together in a food processor
- Saute’ the bacon in a heavy skillet for about 3 minutes or until crisp. Next, With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel and leave the drippings in the skillet.
- Add the rice to the skillet and saute’ over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the ground vegetables, tomatoes, ½ cup of the water, tarragon, salt and pepper, stir. Then, heat to a boil, then lower heat to low, cover and low boil for 15 minutes, (do not stir).
- Remove the cover and stir in ¾ cup more water. Place the fish fillet on top of the mixture and sprinkle with the bacon. Next, cover and cook over the heat for 7 to 10 minutes or until the fish is opaque and liquid is evaporated. (again do not stir.) If you are using this as a filling for pastry, mash it a bit with a fork to blend all the ingredients. If you’re eating it without the pastry, serve it as it is. Then, cool to room temperature before filling the turnovers.
Filling In The Turnovers
- Preheat the oven to 375 degree F
- Unroll 1 tube of the dough. Pull the dough apart at the horizontal and vertical perforations that divide it into 4 rectangles, and press together the diagonal perforations across each reactangle to seal them. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of the fish mixture in the center of each of the rectangles. Fold the dough in half over the filling and press the 3 open edges of the dough together with the tines of a fork to crimp. Repeat this process with the second tube.
- Coat a cookie sheet with nonstick spray, and transfer the pastries to the sheet with a spatula. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the cooked pastries to a rack until cool enough to eat. These can be packed warm to go in a heated lunch tote.
COOKING AHEAD OF TIME
You can make the filling up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate it to fill the turnovers later.
STORAGE
These turnovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat, wrap in foil and bake 8 to 10 minutes in a 350 degree F oven, or until heated through.
You can carry your hot lunch in a heated lunch tote.
HOT LUNCH CHEF