The Working Lunch #13
Your weekly reminder to show your lunch break some love. This week: griddled broccoli & poached egg; minestrone soup; and then it all goes a bit sandwichy.
Last week started so well.
Meals planned. Healthy choices.
Then both kids were off work and school, and the planning all went out the window. It’s amazing how a little disruption can throw you into disarray when you work from home.
So, unusually, we have not one, not two, but three sandwich ideas. I’ll be the first to admit that one of the sandwiches feels a bit OTT for a weekday WFH lunch. But, as I said, everything’s gone a bit tits up.
Enjoy!
Something on toast…
Broccoli & poached egg with chilli oil and seeds
I can’t wait until Kent asparagus season. I love griddled asparagus on toast with poached eggs, maybe some crispy bacon.
Until then, this broccoli version is a solid stand-in.
To make:
One slice of sourdough in the toaster.
Toast a few pumpkin seeds in a dry pan. Set to one side.
Trim up the purple sprouting broccoli, cutting any thicker pieces in half lengthways. Blanche for a couple of minutes in boiling water. Remove and drain.
Use the same water to cook your poached eggs. At the same time, put the broccoli into a big frying pan and cook until tender and slightly charred/caught around the edges. You could use a griddle pan for this.
Top the toast with the broccoli and poached egg. Sprinkle on the toasted seeds, salt and freshly ground pepper, and a drizzle of crispy chilli oil.
Make ahead…
Minestrone soup
As Minestrone basically means a thick vegetable soup with beans or pasta, any veg can go in.
I change it up depending on what veg I have in the fridge, sometimes I even add bacon. Sometimes cannellini or borlotti beans, sometimes baked beans or a handful of frozen peas.
This time, I’ve gone for onion, garlic, carrot, courgette and celery along with the obligatory tin of tomatoes, squeeze of tomato purée, vegetable stock and herbs.
Sauté the onion and other vegetables in a little oil, until the onions soften. Add the tomato purée and cook out a little before adding the tin of tomatoes and two tins’ worth of extra water and the stock cube.
Bring to the boil, then add the pasta. Cook until the vegetables are softened and the pasta is done. Season to taste.
I don’t know exact quantities as I go by eye with the pasta and add more water if needed. There are plenty of recipes for this online if you need more specifics.
It generously served four people.
Just a sandwich…
Korean fried chicken
I LOVE Korean fried chicken and I had some chicken that needed using up—don’t judge me.
I follow this recipe for the sauce. It uses a mix of soy, sugar, ginger, garlic and gochujang to make a sticky glaze.
To make the recipe sandwich-friendly, I flattened out the chicken breast, then coated each side in cornflour and ginger powder before shallow frying it. Then I cut it into slices.
Cutting it into smaller pieces first would have been much better. There’s a reason why it’s done that way. The ratio of crispy bits to sweet sticky sauce was a bit off and the chicken didn’t crisp up nearly as well being shallow-fried instead of deep-fried. But hey, it’s only lunch!
Cucumber, salad, spring onions and sesame seeds for a final flourish. Oh my!
Just a sandwich…
Sausage & caramelised onion
Hot pork sausages, some slices of cheddar cheese, heaps of caramelised onions and a little leafage on hearty multigrain bread.
Not much to note on the preparation of the sandwich except for the onions. These were cooked in the pan alongside the sausages, being careful that they didn’t catch or burn. When they’re nearly cooked and going a little stringy and soft, I’ve stirred in a couple of hefty spoonfuls of sweet fruit chutney. It cooks down and gives the onions a wonderfully sweet, sticky glaze.
Just a sandwich…
Gilgeori toast
This was a last-minute addition to the lunch menu when my son decided to cook it after seeing it on TikTok.
Gilgeori toast is a Korean street food sandwich typically eaten for breakfast. It’s an omelette of sliced onions, carrot and shredded cabbage, served with cheese slices and ketchup, sandwiched between two slices of fried bread. It was pretty good!
Why only four meals?
Actually, there were 5 this week!
See you next week, lunch buddies.
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I made the Korean Fried Chicken for dinner but there was none left for lunch the next day! It went down well :)
Did I just forget minestrone existed ??! I love it so much. Gonna make it this week with some generously buttered slices of toast.