Making time for lunch

Soy-glazed mushrooms on toast

Occasionally, I still have to remind myself about the importance of a proper lunch break. On the whole, I’m pretty consistent with it. I mean, it’s the whole premise of this newsletter. But there are still times when it can feel completely counterintuitive. To. Stop. For. Lunch.

The overwhelm of a to-do list as long as your arm, juggling work stuff and home stuff in one big muddle of a day, it can be so tempting to eat on the run. I‘m too busy to eat! Toast at my desk, a bowl of cereal while reading emails…if I’m honest, it never actually saves me time, because I’m a rubbish multi-tasker and food is not fun when it’s just fuel.

When I feel like I don’t have time, I know I must make the time.  

In slowing down and making space, it creates more space.

So, I try and sometimes fail, to take a proper lunch break, even if it’s only 15 minutes. Even if it’s something I’ve made earlier. Even if it’s cold leftovers straight from the fridge. Even if it’s still only a piece of toast but I’m intentionally moving myself away from my desk and sitting somewhere else in the sun, or in my kitchen, or on the floor with my dog in front of the fire when it’s cold.

We all need a break from work, especially from screens and the relentless demands of inboxes and reminders. And what better way, in my opinion, to have a break, than to spend some time cooking and eating food?

There’s probably an elegant and slightly scientific way of describing the preparation of food as a form of meditative or mindful activity, but I don’t have those words. I just know that, for me, the familiarity of preparing food is just enough of an activity that engages just enough of all of me to bring me present in the task while still leaving a tiny bit of space for my mind to wander if I want it to.

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Soy-glazed mushrooms on toast

A few months ago, I had one bite of a beautiful breakfast flatbread at Water Lane and it made me see mushrooms in a whole new light.

A soft flatbread warmed in a wood-fired oven. A filling of delicious oyster mushrooms, crisp bacon and a fried egg. The mushrooms were the absolute star. The chef was kind enough to share how he did it and off I went to purchase a punnet of oyster mushrooms in their produce market.

Now I’m not going to start cooking on open flames or splash out on a punnet of locally-grown oyster mushrooms for a weekday workday lunch. I’m keeping it simple.  

This dish takes supermarket chestnut mushrooms instead and a few store cupboard ingredients to create meaty mushrooms that would be equally at home on toast, topped with a fried egg or served alongside a steak.

Ingredients:

• A little oil for frying

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp of maple syrup or honey – I’ve used a bit of both here, as I was down to the dregs of maple syrup. You could probably use brown sugar instead of either

•  A generous tablespoon of unsalted butter

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• Chestnut mushrooms – I allowed 20 mushrooms for two people

• Flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

• Sourdough toast

• Mixed leaves to serve, optional

Prepare the mushrooms, cleaning and trimming as you usually would while heating a skillet or frying pan with a little oil.

Add the mushrooms to the medium hot pan.

As they start to cook and colour, add the soy and maple syrup / honey.

When they’re nearly cooked, add in the chopped garlic and butter. When the butter’s melted, stir through the parsley and turn off the heat so the garlic doesn't burn.

Serve immediately by piling the mushrooms onto hot buttered toast and mixed leaves, drizzling over any sauce left in the pan.

You’re absolutely going to want to take an extra piece of bread and mop up every last morsel of the delicious, caramelised glaze from the pan as well – you won’t want to waste any of it!