The Working Lunch #43
Versatile vegetable & lentil soup, the easiest aubergine dip, and effortless egg fried rice — it’s your weekly reminder to show your lunch break some love.
Hello
Short intro this week. I’m off work and writing on my iPhone. Please excuse any typos and sub-standard formatting.
Stay tuned, as next week The Working Lunch gets its very first guest editor.
For now, here are my lunches from last week…
Cook while you work (or workout)…
Lentil & vegetable soup
Sure, you’ll need to spend a little time chopping and stirring, but once the soup’s simmering away, it’s hands off for half an hour while the lentils cook through.
Serves 4:
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Baby spinach
Thyme
Parsley
Vegetable stock cube
Green lentils 150g rinsed
Oil
Salt & pepper
Malt vinegar
You know the drill. Dice the carrot, onion, garlic and celery. Sauté lightly in a little oil. Add thyme and the rinsed lentils, stock, chopped tomatoes and enough water. Bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer.
Ignore it for 30 minutes.
~Perfect time to tackle a few emails or hurl a kettlebell around~
Back to the soup.
Throw in a few handfuls of baby spinach and the chopped parsley. Season with salt, pepper and a deliberate dash of malt vinegar to serve.
I have stacks of soup recipes in various books in my kitchen. I’m yet to follow a single one to the letter. This one is improvised from the River Cottage Lentil & Spinach soup recipe. Soup’s are forgiving as long as the ratio of liquid is about right and the seasoning is spot on. All the veg and a few beans or pulses plus some stock and you can’t go far wrong. I love soup season.
Rustle up…
Easy aubergine dip
Hoping to use up an aubergine that was starting to wither slightly in the depths of my fridge drawer, I thought a baba ganoush dip would make a lovely light lunch.
The only thing is, I didn’t want to put the oven on just to roast one aubergine.
Can you cook a whole aubergine in the microwave?
Turns out you can (see: Microwave Eggplant Houmous). Take care to make sure you have a few good slits cut into it; mine still exploded!
Take one aubergine, microwaved. This took about 7 minutes on high. Not the 15 as suggested in this recipe.
Once it’s cooled down enough to handle, slice it open and scoop out the flesh.
Mix it with a spoonful of tahini, and flavour with a crushed clove of garlic, paprika, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil.
I didn’t bother with the cumin, turmeric and garlic powder. But I did go with some chopped mint because it pretties up its otherwise slightly insipid appearance and provides a delicate flavour lift.
This one’s a keeper. So quick and tasty. The aubergine looks quite slimy at first, but hang in there, as soon as it’s mixed with the tahini, it takes on a more familiar appearance and texture.
Rustle up…
Fridge-drawer fried rice
Quick as a flash you can rustle up a hot tasty lunch using pre-cooked packet rice. Pair that with whatever veg you have in and some eggs for protein and you’re all set.
I started by sautéing spring onion, minced garlic, fresh chilli, finely diced carrot and yellow pepper in a little oil.
Next I beat a few eggs together with a dash of soy. Then added that to the frying pan and scrambled it through the veg.
To that, I threw in the packet long grain rice to heat through and seasoned with some soy and rice wine vinegar. A handful of chopped spinach at the last minute. A fried egg and sweet chilli sauce to top it off.
Only three meals this week.
Honestly.