Cherry Tomato, Egg & Salad Cream Roll

A quick lunch, to eat at home or wrap and take with me, is a cherry tomato, egg and salad cream roll, using nice big soft rolls!

I like cherry tomatoes, but they do seem to come in large quantities – I’ll typically pick up a punnet of cherry tomatoes that weighs about 250 grams and I only seem to use 4-5 each time I use them!  But one great way to use up tomatoes before they go off is to have a cherry tomato, egg and salad cream roll, which, once made, can be eaten immediately or stored in the fridge to grab later … or even tucked into my bag if I go out and might get a bit peckish.

I’d bought these tomatoes, optimistically thinking I might use them in a turkey salad, but that didn’t happen and the turkey leftovers got eaten in other ways!

So I still have a lot of cherry tomatoes to eat.  Of course, I can always freeze tomatoes, if I have to, but I’m also trying to clear the freezer out, so that’s not ideal.  I use up leftover tomatoes by tossing them into appropriate slow cooker stews and curries usually.

I use salad cream, rather than mayonnaise, as it’s got it’s own taste – mostly gained from a little bit of mustard powder and vinegar being in the recipe … and it makes a great alternative to using butter or spread.

Note: If you don’t eat tomato sandwiches and tomato bread rolls immediately then the bread does get soggy over time from the wet tomato juice – personally, I LOVE this and will often make tomato sandwiches and fold them tightly into aluminium foil JUST so I can eat them later.  I used to call them “Soggy Tomato Sandwiches” when I was growing up – and mum’d usually serve these for lunch when she took a pakced lunch with us to the local outdoor swimming pool in the summer.

Here’s how I put my bread roll together:

1. I use my microwave egg boiler to make a quick hard boiled egg.  This takes just 10 minutes and doesn’t need watching!
2. I slice 4-5 cherry tomatoes in half.
3. I squirt salad cream in the bread roll instead of butter/spread.
4. Once the egg’s boiled and cooled, I use an egg slicer to slice it neatly into rounds.

Then I just pile the cherry tomato halves and the slices of egg inside the bread roll … and I’m off!

Once made and wrapped, you can keep this in the fridge for up to 2-3 days!

Menu Cost: 25p 

This is a cheap and cheerful packed lunch – costing under 25p depending on where you buy your bread rolls, eggs and cherry tomatoes from!  That’s cheaper than buying a snack lunch while you’re out!