Todd English's Lunch-Box Recipes

Boston-based chef Todd English is preparing for the dinner crowd in his popular Olives restaurant in the Charlestown section of the city late on a Monday afternoon when his son Simon bursts into the kitchen. Simon, 9, informs his dad -- who operates 17 restaurants around the world, has written three cookbooks, and stars in the Food Network hit Iron Chef as well as the PBS reality series Cooking Under Fire -- that he wants to bring his lunch to school tomorrow. "Let's make a sandwich now," suggests English, 44, who almost always packs his son's lunch the night before school rather than adding the task to an already chaotic morning routine.

This will be no bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread, mind you. English starts chopping up a free-range chicken, which was roasted in the kitchen's massive brick oven; it's an entrée on the dinner menu at the Mediterranean-style restaurant, English's first. Meanwhile, Simon -- who on occasion has helped assemble Olives' famous Yellowfin Tuna Tartare -- grabs bunches of basil and parsley that need to be cleaned. As father and son work side by side, English asks Simon the question every parent wants to know: "So do you ever trade your lunch with the other kids?"

"No way, Dad," Simon responds. "The kids at school always want to know what you packed me. I sometimes share with them, but I never trade. My lunch tastes too good."

English appreciates the five-star rating but puts it in context: "Since Simon switched to a public school near Boston last year, he's allowed to bring his lunch only about once a week. On the rest of the days, he has to eat the cafeteria food." Simon explains exactly what that entails. "Most of the time, my school serves chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, tacos, and burgers -- and the food doesn't usually taste very good," he says. "It's not healthy either," adds English, who has protested the school policy and has put nutritious selections like grilled chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables on the children's menu at Todd English's Blue Zoo, his restaurant in the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. "The shame of it is that Simon's mother and I have exposed him to a variety of healthy foods since he was a baby -- and he enjoys most of them."

"I just started liking tomatoes," the fourth-grader reminds his father.

"That's great," praises English, noting that if children don't like a particular food on the first or even on the 20th try, you should continue to offer it. "Now we have to work on eating all kinds of mushrooms, not just truffles."