The Working Lunch #39
Dahl with chickpea pancake, broccoli & stilton soup, baked eggs, and goat's cheese & fig toasts - it's your weekly reminder to show your lunchbreak some love.
Hello again
Mondays, Mondays, sneaky Mondays, coming around far too quickly after the weekend. The weeks are ticking on.
Talking of which, I’ve got a week off work in a few weeks’ time. Just throwing this out there — do you fancy being a guest contributor while I’m off?
It would be lovely to hand the reins over to someone else for a week. 3 or 4 lunch ideas. That’s all there is to it.
It might be fun. Let me know. Hit reply.
On to this week’s lunch ideas…
Love your leftovers….
Dahl with chickpea pancake
Leftovers from the weekend might be the best thing about Monday lunchtimes. I made a big batch of makhani sauce base at the weekend when we had family round for dinner. There’s enough to tumble down into another family meal, but I’ve taken a small amount to make a quick single portion of dahl as I was lunching solo for a change.
To the sauce base, I’ve added some precooked puy lentils (black lentils would’ve been better but it’s what I had), some water and natural yoghurt rather than cream.
That left me with the dilemma of what to have with it.
I didn’t have any naan. A slice of white Hovis wasn’t quite going to cut it. So a quick chickpea pancake was made while the lentils were warming up. Gram flour, boiling water, nigella seeds and salt.
Make ahead…
Broccoli & Stilton soup
Soup season continues.
This six-ingredient soup is a lovely warming treat come lunchtime. I made it the night before and reheated it at lunch.
As with most soups I make, it’s based on what I had in or what needs to be used up.
Some slightly sorry-looking spring onions take the place of the onions and leeks that you might typically see in a broccoli & Stilton soup recipe.
A whole head of broccoli, stalk and all (no waste here), potato, spring onion, a Kallo vegetable stock cube, water, and a little Stilton. You really don’t need much Stilton.
Cook the vegetables in the stock until they’re tender. Crumble in the Stilton and blend until smooth. Season to taste.
Cook while you work…
Baked eggs in hash browns
I’m resisting calling these ‘baked egg nests’ as it sounds like I’m writing for a 4-year-old, but that’s basically what they are.
Frozen hash browns, eggs, and a little cheese. That’s it.
I’ve cooked one hash brown per muffin-pan hole. After 10 minutes, I indented the hash browns to create a little nest to crack the egg into.
Return to the oven for another 10 mins (or until it’s all cooked), adding a little grated cheese at the end, if you want.
You might want to check that your muffin tin is a good non-stick one. I’m still chiselling off the egg! Or maybe use silicon muffin cups to line it.
Serve with ketchup or brown sauce. I went for chilli jam with mine.
Something on toast…
Goat’s cheese, figs & honey
Ending the week with a lovely simple, very quick lunch.
Cool, creamy, soft goat’s cheese spread onto hot sourdough toast. Slice fresh figs and arrange over the top with a drizzle of honey. Ready.
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—make a batch of the soup, or the dahl, use up some leftovers, or head to your favourite local spot.
I went for the broccoli & stilton soup two days in a row.
See you next week, lunch buddies
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