Quick Gourmet Lunch Meal Ideas

Quick gourmet lunches are easy to prepare when you have the proper ingredients on hand.

Busy lifestyles require fast lunches. Sometimes, you just don't enough time to prepare a full midday meal. Keep staples and other easy-to-find ingredients on hand to make a gourmet lunch in a hurry.

Gourmet Salads

A salad is a healthy and fast lunch when you have the right ingredients on hand. To make a variety of gourmet salads, keep some salad staples and more exotic items in your pantry and refrigerator. Purchase several types of lettuce and greens such as baby spinach, arugula, watercress, romaine and red leaf lettuce. Start with the greens as your base and add sliced red onion, avocado, pine nuts, cubed cooked chicken, shredded or cubed cheese or gourmet croutons. Top salads with oil and vinegar or use a prepared salad dressing in a more intriguing flavor such as blush wine vinaigrette or poppy seed. Gourmet lunch salads offer nearly endless options.

Advanced Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is a quick lunch idea with pre-cooked chicken, which you can purchase at most grocery stores. To make chicken salad, mix chicken, onion, celery or green pepper and mayonnaise or salad dressing. To take chicken salad to a gourmet level, add ingredients such as raisins, cranberries, walnuts, grapes or currants. The chicken salad can be served on a croissant as a sandwich or on top of baby greens such as baby spinach or watercress.

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese

A grilled cheese sandwich is a speedy and simple lunch favorite, as the two main ingredients are found in most kitchens. The traditional sandwich is bread and cheese toasted on a stove top. To make a more gourmet grilled cheese in a hurry, switch some ingredients. Using bread such as challah, focaccia or marbled rye adds a touch of gourmet to the base of the sandwich. To change the cheese, opt for more flavorful choices such as Havarti, Swiss, aged cheddar or fresh buffalo mozzarella. Jazz up the sandwich by adding ingredients such as sliced fresh tomato, sun dried tomatoes, avocado, fresh basil or lump crab meat.

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