The Working Lunch #36
Bento box, tuna melts, roasted tomato and avocado toast, and potato rosti …. It’s your weekly reminder to show your lunch break some love.
Hello,
Working from home should make lunchtimes easy. There’s no excuse.
But if you’re time-poor, either because work’s gone crazy or you’re trying to fit a full day’s work around ALL the other life or family commitments, lunch can be one of the things that gets bumped down the list.
How do you make lunch easier?
It might seem unnecessary to make a packed lunch if you work from home, but why not?
If you know you’ve got a busy day ahead, why not get ahead?
If you’re making packed lunches for other people in your household, do yours at the same time. Or better still, get someone else to make it. (Here’s hoping)
Two of this week’s lunch ideas have been made ahead. It saves loads of time and lightens the mental load as there’s no decision or thought needed come lunchtime.
So when you’re feeling frazzled and famished, but time is running away from you, you just need to open the fridge.
Make ahead…
Omelette, rice & edamame bento box
If you’re making dinner with the same ingredients that could make a lunch, do both together. That’s what I did here.
For this bento:
Precooked rice (if you’re using a packet of pre-cooked rice, check that it can be eaten cold)
Cooked edamame beans
Pan-fried gyoza
A thin omelette rolled and sliced
Chopped radish and cucumber
A simple dressing/dipping sauce of soy, honey, rice wine vinegar and honey.
Any ingredients that need cooking, were cooked and cooled before adding to the box. Then store it in the fridge until lunch the next day.
Simple swaps: Surely anything goes in a bento? It’s a box, not a recipe, after all. Don’t have a box? Just use a bowl.
Just a sandwich…
Tuna melt
I can’t believe I’ve taken til # 36 to include a tuna melt! What an oversight.
If you love a tuna melt, you’ll no doubt have your own method and preferred additions.
I’ve gone for a classic plain tuna mayo and grated mozzarella on a panini roll toasted in a dry pan.
It’s the same old story, you need a little patience unless you have a panini press. Go slow, so it toasts not burns and still melts the cheese.
I’d also throw some jalapeños in there if I had some.
Get ahead: Make up the sandwich in the morning or the night before (I did mine while I was making my daughter’s tuna mayo sandwiches for her packed lunch 😁)
Something on toast…
Roasted tomatoes and avocado on toast
Another day, another panini roll. This time split and toasted and topped with fresh avocado, roasted tomatoes and tiny purple basil leaves — for the aesthetic 🤦♀️ — but they did add a nice hit of flavour.
I’ve halved the tomatoes and cooked them in a frying pan with a little dash of rapeseed oil with a touch of salt and pepper.
When they were cooked, I moved them to one side of the pan and toasted the bread in the remaining oil.
Top the toast with the fresh avocado and then pile the tomatoes on top.
In all honesty, I’m not going to rush to make this again. Avo toast, happy days. Tomatoes on toast are divine. Together, I’m not sold on it. I’m just not keen on the avocado getting warm from the hot tomatoes.
Simple swaps: You could obviously use any toast here. It just made sense as I had the pack of panini rolls open. Use what you have 👏🏻
Rustle up…
Rösti
After starting this week’s newsletter talking about getting ahead so lunch isn’t in a rush, this one goes the other way. You’ll need to take a little bit of time, as there’s no rushing a rosti. All in all, making the rosti and frying the egg, it was 25-30 minutes. One for a rainy day lunch break when you’re not trying to walk the dog and get the washing out.
To serve 2, I grated one large (jacket potato size) potato.
Squeezed out the water from the grated potato.
Seasoned with salt and pepper.
Using a non-stick frying pan — with oil and butter — I formed the potato into two flat discs, pressing down firmly.
As they were quite thin, it took about 15 minutes to cook them, cooking on a medium heat and turning often to get an even crisping and colouring.
I then fried the eggs in the same pan (so it was only one pan to wash up).
Get ahead: This recipe from BBC Good Food, has a make-ahead tip, so they can simply be reheated at lunchtime.
Why only four meals?
I know, most people work 5 days a week. I do too. But it’s nice to wing it one day a week. It’s a chance to use up some leftovers. Go freestyle with a freezer forage. Or make plans and meet a friend for lunch.
See you next week, lunch buddies.
My mum used to make me bento boxes for lunch with cute little characters and all! It was so fun. Lucky me. I wish someone would make bento boxes for me now 😂