Serious Eats: Recipes - Sack Lunch

Sack Lunch: Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich

2008-08-25T15:30:00Z

When the dining hall became unbearable in college, I would treat myself to a fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich at my favorite bakery. This combination fueled my most desperate studying, even in the dead of winter. At the time, I hadn't heard of "seasonal" or "local," so I didn't notice if the tomatoes were imperfect or the basil didn't taste quite right with snow on the ground.

Since then, I've voluntarily submitted to a much stricter set of guidelines about what to eat and when, which means that I'm on something of a tomato bender right now. Recently, I decided to recreate my old favorite sandwich. If you're squeamish about squishy bread, then don't make this in the morning and eat it at lunchtime but for me, dressing-soaked bread is a plus.

About the author: Robin Bellinger recently escaped a career in book publishing, which was cutting into her cooking time. Now she's a freelance editor and can bake bread on Tuesday afternoon if she feels like it. She lives in Midtown Manhattan with her husband and blogs about cooking and crafting at home*economics.

Ingredients

2 individual ciabatta rolls
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 medium tomatoes
5 or 6 medium to large basil leaves chopped into chiffonade
2 or 3 ounces fresh mozzarella
1 clove garlic

Procedures

Split the ciabatta and toast. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
Slice or chop the tomatoes and toss them with the dressing (chopped tomatoes tend to slip out of the sandwich when you eat it and tomato slices sometimes slide out intact when you try to take a bite; so basically this is not tidy eating either way). Add the basil.
When the rolls are toasted, rub them with garlic and pile them with tomatoes and mozzarella. Drizzle the sandwiches with as much extra dressing as you like before closing them up. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and eat within a few hours, preferably without refrigerating.

Sack Lunch: Greek Salad with Orzo and Black-Eyed Peas

2008-08-11T18:30:00Z

I nearly died of excitement when I opened this month’s Gourmet to a recipe section called “Picnic in the Glass.” It features salads that are not just composed but beautifully layered in individual glass jars, an elegant presentation that is also highly portable. The magazine’s editors were inspired by a chic new restaurant in Paris, of course. I had to make one right away and tried the Greek salad with orzo and black-eyed peas that very night.

My usual Greek salad contains neither orzo nor legumes. I was glad to get some chickpeas in this version (no canned black-eyed peas at my grocery store), but I could take or leave the orzo. If you are stuck at work through the month of August with no stylish picnics in sight, this would make a mighty comforting desk lunch.

Ingredients

serves 4; easily halved

3/4 cup orzo
1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 large tomato, diced (1 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 seedless cucumber, halved lengthwise, cored, and diced (1 cup)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, slivered
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano
2 to 3 cups coarsely chopped romaine
1/2 pound feta, crumbled (1 cup)
4 to 8 peperoncini

Procedures

Cook orzo according to package instructions. Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well.
Toss black-eyed peas, tomato, and parsley with vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Marinate, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, toss together orzo, remaining tablespoon oil, cucumber, olives, onion, lemon zest and juice, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.
Divide black-eyed-pea mixture (with juices) among 4 jars 16-ounce wide jars (or other lidded containers) and layer orzo salad, romaine, and feta on top. Add 1 or 2 peperoncini to each jar.
Gourmet says the assembled jars can be chilled for up to 6 hours, but I stored the components overnight in separate containers and did not think they suffered. Serve at room temperature if possible.

Sack Lunch: Zucchini and Chicken Salad

2008-07-21T18:30:00Z

My relationship with zucchini has never been functional. I want to love it, since there’s so much of it around in the summer and it’s so easy to prepare, but it always tastes watery and disappointing, whether steamed, grilled, or...okay, fried is the exception. But I can’t be breading and frying zucchini all that often.

Recently I tried this zucchini and chicken salad and discovered that, all this time, I’ve been going about things all wrong. Slivered up in a flash with my handheld Japanese mandoline, then tossed with a lemony dressing, raw zucchini tastes great and has a much nicer texture than cooked zucchini. You can eat this plain or tossed with eight ounces of baby spinach, as suggested in the book. Stuffed into a pita, it would also make a nice summer sandwich. I skipped the pecans on account of my husband’s deadly nut allergy, and the Parmesan because I am cheap. We made do with a scattering of sunflower seeds, which were good. Next time I might try chick peas and feta instead of pecans and Parmesan.

For me and zucchini, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Ingredients

serves 4

1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 pounds zucchini, thinly sliced (I used a handheld mandoline)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, halved
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
8 ounces young spinach, well washed (optional; in case you want this as a salad with greens)
4 whole wheat pita (optional; in case you want this as a sandwich)

Procedures

Whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add zucchini and toss to coat. Let marinate while cooking the chicken.
Heat the remaining tablespoon olive oil over medium in large nonstick skillet, preferably cast iron. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 7 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and slice thin.
Toss everything together and serve.

Sack Lunch: Roast Beef Sandwich with Boursin

2008-07-14T19:25:00Z

Just add roast beef and Bousin!

A baguette, a round of Boursin, and a bottle of Beaujolais is my idea of a Bastille Day lunch. (As you can see, my relationship to France was formed when I was a student, before I had begun to explore more challenging cheeses. I’m afraid I still haven’t gotten around to appreciating fancy wine.) It’s a glorious meal in a park on a sunny day, but it probably isn’t the most practical picnic for a Monday at work, and New York is cloudy today anyway.

Skip the wine, keep the guilty-pleasure Boursin, add some roast beef, and you’ve got yourself quite a celebratory sandwich. Vive la France! Vive le gourmandise! Buy yourself a little tart or palmier or éclair while you're at it.

Ingredients

serves 1

1 very good small baguette (or a hunk of good baguette)
4 ounces roast beef
About 2 ounces Boursin cheese
Thinly sliced red onion
A small handful of spinach or arugula

Procedures

Split the bread in half. Spread each half with Boursin. Assemble the sandwich.

Sack Lunch: Cold Sesame Noodles

2008-07-07T17:15:00Z

I don’t think I had ever heard about sesame noodles before I came to New York City. Maybe they were on the Chinese menus in Houston and my family was too excited about egg rolls, spare ribs, fried rice, General Tso, and beef with broccoli to notice. Maybe they were put in front of me several times and my childish disdain for cold noodles of any kind led me to turn up my nose. But in my adult life I somehow became aware that a delicious and highly craveable dish had slipped past me, and my interest was duly piqued.

After trying a couple of dud recipes, I found one that I like in The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. That might not seem the likeliest source for an excellent sesame noodle recipe, so please speak up if this looks wrong to you. This is one of the rare cases where I do not have a specific memory or Platonic taste ideal guiding my experience of a home-cooked dish (which is nice sometimes, because you get to enjoy what you’ve prepared for what it is rather than despair over what it is not). Cold sesame noodles make a great lunch on a hot day and are also good to take on car, train, or plane trips.

Last year Ed linked to Sam Sifton’s much better informed and memory-laden recipe in The New York Times Magazine, and a few months ago Smitten Kitchen gave us sesame noodles the way she likes them. Now that I’m on the bandwagon, I’d like to try both of these recipes, too.

Ingredients

serves 4 generously, 6 as a side dish

5 tablespoons sesame seeds
5 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter, preferably chunky
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles (see above)
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and sliced thin

Procedures

Toast the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring, until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds. Puree the remaining 4 tablespoons sesame seeds with the soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, sugar, ginger, garlic, and Tabasco in a blender or food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds. With the machine running, add the hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the sauce has the consistency of heavy cream (you may not need all the water).
Cook the noodles in 6 quarts boiling water seasoned with the salt until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Shake out the excess water and transfer to a large bowl. Add the scallions, carrot, red pepper, and sesame sauce and toss to combine. Arrange on a serving platter (or divide among individual bowls) and sprinkle with the reserved sesame seeds.

Sack Lunch: Turkey and Coleslaw Sandwich

2008-06-30T17:15:00Z

One of my favorite sandwiches is roast turkey and coleslaw on a Kaiser roll. I happened to overhear someone order it at the inauspicious looking but better-than-average deli near my first office, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’m always interested to get people’s reactions to this combination because some think it sounds perfectly normal while others think coleslaw belongs in a little cup on the side and nowhere else.

Since most anonymous delis don't do this sandwich as well as that one I used to frequent, a homemade version was in order. I roasted a turkey breast and shredded a cabbage. Since I’ve never managed to track down a Kaiser roll I like outside of a deli, a hamburger bun stood in; any bread you like should do, really, and it occurred to me afterward that rye bread might have been especially excellent. Although the turkey was a little dry, this sandwich won high marks not just from me, a coleslaw fanatic, but also from Andrew, who doesn’t like coleslaw much at all. The perfect dessert for this lunch is a ripe peach.

Ingredients

serves 6 to 8

1 head red or green cabbage (2 pounds), cored and shredded (12 to 14 cups)
Salt
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
Pepper
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 small onion, minced
2 pounds boneless turkey breast, tied up like a roast
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Pepper

Procedures

Toss the cabbage with 1 teaspoon salt and allow to sit in a colander for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. Meanwhile, toast the caraway seeds in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Rinse the cabbage, then pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Whisk the toasted caraway seeds, mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a bowl large enough to hold the salad. Add the cabbage, carrots, and onion and toss. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast Turkey for Sandwiches
- makes 8 sandwiches -
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the turkey on a baking sheet, rub it all over with olive oil, and season generously and evenly with salt and pepper. When the oven is hot, roast the turkey to an internal temperature of about 160°F. This should take about 45 minutes, but start checking with a meat thermometer at 30 minutes. Allow the cooked roast to rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing thinly. The turkey will be much easier to slice thinly when it has cooled completely and been refrigerated for a while.

Sack Lunch: Spicy Coriander Tabbouleh

2008-06-23T19:15:00Z

One of the most exciting things about summer is how cheap herbs are at the Greenmarket. I spend the winter making mournful calculations when I read recipes: do I really want to spend $10 on fresh herbs for a single dish? Then comes summer, when the pressure I feel to use suddenly-affordable herbs all the time comes up against my not-so-improvisational cooking style. The weeks I bring home five bunches they tend to wither in the vegetable drawer, but the weeks I refrain from buying any I find myself desperately in need of rosemary or lemon verbena.

Last week I made an unconventional spicy coriander tabbouleh that may be the answer to my problem with herbs. From now on I’ll buy whatever herbs look tempting, and if I haven’t used them by the middle of the week I’ll chop them up, toss them with some bulgur wheat, and see what happens. Stir a drained can of chickpeas into this, maybe some feta if you have it, and it would make a mighty fine lunch.

Ingredients

serves 6

1 cup bulgur wheat
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon each whole cumin and fennel seeds
3/4 cup minced red onion
1 cup finely diced seedless cucumber
1 cup finely diced seeded tomato (I’m skipping this until tomatoes are in season)
3/4 cup each minced fresh coriander and fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped scallion
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 can chickpeas, drained (optional)
1/2 cup crumbled feta (optional)

Procedures

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Put the bulgur in a bowl, pour the boiling water over, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir, cover, and let stand for about an hour.
While the bulgur is soaking, toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and fennel seeds in a small skillet over moderate heat until very fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Let the seeds cool completely and then grind them into a fine powder.
Stir together the red onion, ground spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand while the bulgur is soaking, at least 30 minutes.
Drain the bulgur if necessary. If the bulgur has soaked up all the liquid, simply add the onion mixture, cucumber, tomato, herbs, scallion, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Toss well. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and lemon juice if necessary. Stir in chickpeas and feta if desired.

Sack Lunch: Beans and Tuna Salad

2008-06-16T16:45:00Z

Last month there was a great thread here about “What do you bring to eat at your desk for lunch?” As interesting as the responses were, I was chagrined to discover near-universal condemnation of people who enjoy tuna salad in the air they share with their co-workers. Whoops! I definitely ate lots of tuna salad at my office job; but then, my colleagues weren’t exactly scared to stink up the place, so I guess I felt it was my right as much as theirs. The woman in the next cubicle used to microwave incredibly pungent curries around 3 p.m., and a woman in a nearby office would attempt to eliminate the odor with room perfume, leaving me in the middle of a knock-down, drag-out Jo Malone vs. cumin death match. Another woman spent hours preparing elaborate feasts in the teeny area meant for adding milk and sugar to your coffee. I guess my tuna fish didn’t seem so obtrusive to me, but now I wonder if people were retching as they passed my desk.

If it weren’t for the scary mercury thing, I would probably eat canned tuna for lunch five days a week. I actually love the way it smells, whether it’s mixed up with mayonnaise and packed onto bread (yum) or gussied up with olive oil, beans, and herbs. Here is Marcella Hazan’s recipe for beans and tuna salad. It’s good, but I usually don’t use a recipe when I want this for lunch; I just combine a can of tuna (oil-packed, or add olive oil to the finished salad), a can of white beans or chickpeas, a tablespoon of nonpareil capers (I like capers, so adjust accordingly), some black pepper, and a dash of red wine vinegar. If I am feeling fancy, maybe some parsley or minced red onion. That makes enough for two lunches, no bread needed. And now that it’s nice outside, you can go eat it on a bench, doing unto the curry lady of your office as you wish she would do unto you.

Ingredients

serves 4

1 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked, cooked, and drained, OR 3 cups canned cannellini beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, preferably a sweet variety such as Bermuda red, Vidalia, or Maui, very thinly sliced (and soaked in several changes of cold water, if you are up for it…I am not)
Salt
1 seven-ounce can imported tuna packed in olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Choice quality red wine vinegar
Black pepper, cracked fairly coarse

Procedures

Put the beans and onion into a serving bowl, sprinkle liberally with salt, and toss. Drain the tuna and add it to the bowl, breaking it into large flakes with a fork. Pour on enough oil to coat well, add a dash of vinegar and a generous quantity of black pepper, toss thoroughly, turning the ingredients over several times, and taste and correct seasoning.

Sack Lunch: Beef and Mango Wraps and Black Bean Relish

2008-06-02T16:45:00Z

Despite the fact that roast beef sandwiches were probably born in the days when people frequently had large leftover roasts to use up, today we’re so accustomed to the deli counter that cooking your own sandwich meat might strike you as rather pretentious. I know I was surprised to discover how easy it is. Throwing a roast in the oven is much less time-consuming than, say, baking all your own bread (although that would be nice, too, wouldn't it?). It also saves money and tastes extra good—papery-thin deli meat has nothing on this.

Here is a wrap sandwich made with leftover roast beef. To make a dinner of the roast beef, chop some bell peppers, onions, and potatoes, toss them with olive oil, and add them to the sheet pan with the roast. To make meat for only a few sandwiches, just buy a smaller roast and monitor cooking closely. If roasting meat in June is not your idea of a good time, you could, of course, also make the wrap with deli meat. The black bean relish is a super fast side for this or any meal.

Ingredients

serves 4, with leftover meat

2 1/2 pounds eye-of-round (or other) beef roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt
Pepper
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from two limes)
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded, halved lengthwise, and cut crosswise into thin strips
1 mango (about 1 pounds, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
4 whole wheat tortillas (10-inch) or wrapper of your choice
4 cups loose spinach (about 5 ounces), trimmed, well washed, and dried
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cumin (optional)
Minced garlic (optional)

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the roast on a small sheet pan or baking dish, rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and thyme (if using). When the oven is hot, roast 40-50 minutes, until the meat is tender and an instant-read thermometer inserted into its thickest part registers 130°F (for medium rare). Let meat cool. Store in an airtight container.
When you’re ready to make the wraps, slice the roast beef as thin as you like. Whisk together the mustard, lime juice, and remaining tablespoon olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Toss the onion, bell pepper, and mango with this dressing and set aside.
Line each tortilla with spinach, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Arrange beef slices down the center of each wrap and top the beef with the mango-vegetable mixture. Drizzle any extra dressing over the wraps.
Fold in the opposite sides of each wrap and roll up tightly.
Black Bean Relish
- serves 4 as a side dish -
Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. I like this with a big dash of cumin and with minced garlic instead of onion.

Sack Lunch: Beluga Lentils and Broccoli Rabe

2008-05-19T17:00:00Z

Chefs often say that diners choose entrées based on sides: for instance, anything paired with mashed potatoes moves faster than it otherwise would. At my house, though, I don’t pay much attention to the side dishes, maybe because there’s only one thing on the menu every night. Usually I’m rushing to steam broccoli or make a pot of rice to round out a meal.

Side dishes were not an afterthought, however, last week when I made Suzanne Goin’s brisket from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. As always this book reminded me that you can make truly amazing food in a home kitchen with the right inspiration and instructions. The brisket’s companions, beluga lentils and sautéed broccoli rabe, made an excellent lunch for the rest of the week: a fancified version of my sack-lunch standby beans and greens. With a slice of crusty bread and a piece of cheese, these leftovers, which are good either heated or at room temperature, would make one of the nicest lunches I can imagine.

Ingredients

serves 6 as a side dish or 4 for lunch

1 1/2 cups beluga lentils
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 chile de árbol
1/4 cup red wine
3 sprigs basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds rapini, ends trimmed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 chile de árbol, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedures

Rinse the lentils and pick through them to remove any small stones.
Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil and wait a minute. Add the onion, thyme, chile, 1 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook the onion, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the lentils and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring to coat the lentils in the oil and vegetables. Reduce the heat to low and add the wine. Quickly add 6 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down the heat and simmer 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
Strain the lentils over a bowl. Toss them with the remaining 6 tablespoons olive oil, the basil sprigs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/3 cup of the cooking liquid. (Add more of the liquid if the lentils seem dry.) Taste for seasoning.
Sautéed Rapini with Garlic and Chile
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
Blanch the rapini a couple of minutes in the rapidly boiling water, until just tender and al dente. Drain. Cool on a platter or baking sheet.
Heat a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil and add the garlic, shallots, thyme, and chile. Cook a few minutes, until the shallots are translucent. Add the rapini and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir well, coating the rapini with the other ingredients and bathing it in the oil. Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup oil over the rapini and sauté 2 minutes, tossing often. Sprinkle another teaspoon salt and a pinch of black pepper over the rapini, toss, and taste for seasoning.

Sack Lunch: Black Bean Chili with Eggplant

2008-05-12T17:00:00Z

Lately I’ve been wondering if I should add "freezing food in individual portions" to my list of interests on Facebook. For one long, dark year I lived in a Park Slope studio with no freezer, unable to save leftovers and frequently forced to eat entire pints of ice cream in a single sitting. Ever since I have appreciated my freezer and used it as much as possible, although the serving size of ice cream that satisfies me now remains tragically huge.

Since I don’t always have the time or ingredients to pack even a sandwich, my frozen stash of soup, stew, and other leftovers has often been the only thing standing between me and a mediocre but depressingly expensive business-district lunch. Although some things (especially potato-based soups, in my experience) suffer for having been frozen, most come out just fine and are given additional relish by the thrill (okay, for me) of enjoying the fruits of my earlier labor.

Here’s what’s in my freezer right now: black bean and eggplant chili. This meatless, bean-filled chili (sorry, chili purists!) was far too spicy for me the day I made it, even with wheatberries, plain yogurt, and cheese stirred in. It mellowed a little overnight, but I will be more careful with peppers next time. (I used chilies de arbol and am wondering if New Mexican red chilies are actually much milder.) In any event, this was solid home cooking but didn’t make anyone weak in the knees, which is why it was an excellent candidate for freezing: I wouldn’t have wanted to eat it several meals in a row, but I will be very grateful to have it when I find myself in a mealtime pinch.

Ingredients

serves 4 as a main course

1 1/2 pounds eggplant, unpeeled, stemmed, and cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt
15 dried New Mexican red chilies (about 3 ounces)
3 cups water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small red onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
28-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf
2 cups cooked black beans
As accompaniments:
White cheddar, coarsely grated
Red onions, finely diced
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Cooked brown rice, wheatberries, or tortilla chips

Procedures

Put the eggplant cubes in a strainer and sprinkle generously with salt. Let stand for 1 hour and pat dry with paper towels.
Simmer the chilies with the 3 cups water in a large saucepan for 20 minutes. Purée the chilies and the liquid in batches in a blender until very smooth. Force the puree through a fine sieve and discard any solid pieces.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven over moderately high heat. Add eggplant and cook, stirring, until almost tender, about 4 minutes. Remove eggplant and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the same Dutch oven, adding more oil if necessary, and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.
Add tomatoes, ground coriander, cumin, bay leaf, eggplant, and chili puree and simmer 5 minutes.
Add beans and simmer over moderate heat for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Remove the bay leaf. Place in bowls and top with cheese, onions, and cilantro.

Sack Lunch: Mung Bean Noodles with Dulse and Crushed Peanuts

2008-05-05T19:45:00Z

For a month or two now I have been searching for an Asian or Asian-y noodle dish that would make a nice lunch. A few candidates didn't pan out, and the one that did was a soup, which I know some people don't care to bother packing up for work. Finally, though, Deborah Madison came through with her refreshing salad of chilled mung bean noodles with dulse and crushed peanuts from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

I'm afraid it looks as if this week is going to be rainy in New York, but for those of you with happier weather, this is just the thing to eat outside on a warm day: cool, full of bright flavors, satisfying without being heavy. I liked the generous dose of raw ginger, but people who find that kind of thing overwhelming might want to start with 1 teaspoon and work their way up. I also added a few dashes of soy sauce and would not have minded a little more spice; maybe I'll leave the jalapeño seeds in next time. This noodle salad keeps in the refrigerator for four or five days, in my experience, and travels quite well: last week I enjoyed it on an airplane while everyone else made do with a doll-sized bag of pretzels.

Mung bean noodles (which are apparently also called cellophane noodles; I have trouble keeping my Asian noodles straight) are long and very skinny and come tangled in nests. Instead of being boiled they just get a quick soak in hot water. Dulse is a dark red seaweed that you will find in a packet. I may have over-soaked mine, since it seemed to disappear into the noodles instead of packing the punch promised by Madison and the packet. Either way, eating seaweed is bound to make you feel super-healthy and virtuous; everyone should give it a shot.

Ingredients

serves 4

About 2 1/2 ounces mung bean noodles
2 carrots, julienned
1 cucumber, seeded and julienned
4 scallions, including a little of the greens, thinly sliced diagonally
1/4 cup Japanese rice vinegar
2 teaspoons roasted peanut oil (I used dark sesame oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely diced
Several red dulse "leaves," soaked in water for 5 minutes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Procedures

Cover the mung bean noodles with boiling water and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain and put them in a bowl with the carrots, cucumber, and scallions.
Whisk the vinegar, oil, sugar, and a pinch of salt together, then add the ginger and chile. Pour over the noodles and toss well.
Drain the dulse, coarsely chop, and add it to the noodles with the cilantro and most of the peanuts. Toss again and serve with the remaining peanuts sprinkled over the top.

Sack Lunch: Homemade Energy Bars

2008-04-28T17:30:00Z

While I’ve been going on and on here about the pleasures of a thoughtfully packed lunch, I have not revealed a shameful truth: at the moment the only lunch I make is my own. My husband is in the home stretch of medical school, which means that he spends long days in hospitals with little time for indulgences such as "lunch." Most days they're given some kind of greasy Chinese food or inferior pizza to wolf down during a midday meeting, and the rest of the time lunch is catch as catch can. My impression is that sitting down and unpacking tasty leftovers or even a good-looking sandwich would be suspect, food being decidedly too frivolous to concern a busy MD (or MD-to-be).

So Andrew asked me to buy him some energy bars, which I have always regarded with distaste and even suspicion. I just don’t think they count as food. I soon discovered that they are rather expensive, and what's more, many of them contain tree nuts, to which Andrew is deathly allergic. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to make something myself, and wouldn’t I feel better about it?

The Search

I started poking around. Heidi had developed an energy bar at 101 Cookbooks, but it relied heavily on tree nuts, and I did not feel confident enough to begin at the tweaking stage. My maternity cookbook offered a good candidate recipe. Like Heidi’s it contains no scary ingredients (well, soy protein powder is not something I already had in my cupboard), and I felt comfortable replacing its 1/2 cup chopped walnuts with 1/2 cup peanuts (which Andrew can eat without entering anaphylactic shock).

The Taste

These bars were easy to make and earned Andrew’s approval. They smell like the peanut butter granola bars I ate as a child and taste to me like not-especially-delicious cookies. This is not to say they don’t taste just fine; they aren’t supposed to be cookies. They were a little too crumbly around the edges, but now that I’ve tried the master recipe I look forward to playing around, trying it with other dried fruits, maybe some chocolate chips on occasion, other sticky sweeteners, or with more or less of other ingredients. This weekend we discovered that they are also good crumbled into yogurt for breakfast or a snack.

The Value

The book says you should make 24 bars, but 1 1/2 by 3 inches looked absurdly small to me. I divided the pan into 18 bars and calculated that each bar has about 240 calories. (Divided into 24, the bars should have about 181 calories each.) As for cost, I spent $30 buying everything except for the whole wheat flour and cinnamon. That comes out to $1.67 per bar: more expensive than the $1.29/200 calorie Clif bars I bought as backups the same day, but of course I have enough of everything (except for maple syrup) left over to make at least 2 more batches. Although I am a trained accountant of neither dollars nor calories, by my reckoning 100 calories of homemade bar cost about 23 cents, whereas 100 calories of store-bought bar cost about 64 cents. Is it weird that that gives me a thrill?

Ingredients

serves 18 or 24 bars as described above

1 cup pure maple syrup
2/3 cup chunky natural peanut butter
2 2/3 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup soy protein powder or whey protein powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or walnuts)

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. I used a nonstick cake pan, but I imagine you could use a Pyrex baking dish, too.
Use the back of a wooden spoon to mix the syrup and peanut butter together in a large bowl until well blended.
In a separate bowl, stir together the rest of the ingredients. Stir this mixture into the peanut butter mixture to make a uniform dough. Press it into the prepared pan. It will be slightly sticky but should still spread easily into the pan if you grease your fingers.
Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cut into bars while still warm but allow to cool completely in the pan. Wrap each bar individually and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Sack Lunch: Sardine-and-Egg Salad Sandwich

2008-04-14T17:00:00Z

Photograph from RockyEda on Flickr

I've been working my way through everyone’s suggestions in response to last month’s post about how to eat sardines. With many methods and recipes left to try, I have already discovered one new favorite. Sardines and hard-boiled eggs didn’t sound like a natural combination to me, but since more than one person cited the pairing with some fondness, I had to try it.

It’s really good! Especially on an English muffin. Thank you, hanak and allakarasik. Obviously this is a great source of protein for people who eat fish and eggs but not meat, and sardines are full of the wonderful fish oil we could all use more of. For people like my dad (who said, “Here’s a recipe for sardines: Give the sardines to the cat and order a pizza”), this could be a good gateway sardine dish. The eggs really mellow out the oily little fish, and the texture of the salad on a soft roll is very comforting.

Ingredients

2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1 3.75-ounce can oil-packed sardines, drained
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Freshly ground pepper
Salt
2 split English muffins (or other bread for making sandwiches)

Procedures

Scoop the hard-boiled yolks into a bowl and mash them well with a fork. Dump the drained sardines on top of them and chop the sardines up into little bits, as small as you like. Chop the hard-boiled whites very fine and put them in the bowl. Top with mayonnaise, mustard, and freshly ground pepper to taste (I just eyeball it—I think I use about 2 teaspoons each mayonnaise and mustard and 1/8 teaspoon pepper) and stir and mash everything together until evenly combined. Taste and add salt only if you think necessary.
Serve on an English muffin or bread of your choice. This makes enough for 2 sandwiches; if you aren’t making 2 sandwiches at once, the leftover will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Sack Lunch: Mark Bittman's Red Beans and Rice

2008-04-07T18:15:00Z

As a devoted user of How To Cook Everything, I’m always interested in bloggers’ strong opinions about Mark Bittman. I haven’t run into any anti-Bittman animus in a while, but every once in a while someone really lets him have it. HTCE and the Minimalist have at times led me astray with recipes that were disappointingly bland or didn’t quite work, but successes have far outnumbered failures.

This week I tried his curried rice noodles in hopes that they would make a good sack lunch. I’m afraid, however, that this is the kind of recipe that makes people turn against Bittman. The noodles were completely bland because the curry powder never really got integrated, and now I have a pot completely encrusted with cooked-on noodles. I probably should have used a bigger (10 quart?) pot and gotten it hotter, but I’m not going to try again to find out; the one thing I demand of his recipes is that they be idiot proof. In the meantime, for your lunch I propose one of my old Bittman favorites, red beans and rice.

I like the vegetarian version, so that’s what I’m adapting here. It’s filling, cheap, and healthy; in fact, I think it’s also the recipe that convinced me that cooking dried beans instead of using canned is not so scary. This is not Louisiana-style red beans and rice; the lack of meat and addition of coconut milk makes it different and very good. As far as I’m concerned, HTCE is about teaching you how to get dinner on the table, not how to knock people’s socks off (Bittman co-wrote the very good Simple to Spectacular for that), but thanks to the coconut milk I always feel like I’m getting a special treat when I eat these leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients

serves 4-6, or 2 dinners and 4 lunches

2 cups kidney, pinto, or other beans, washed and picked over
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder (or 4 or 5 sprigs thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 2 bay leaves, and 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice; I use chili powder)
2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; don’t bother to drain)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
3 cups canned coconut milk, warmed
Chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish
Tabasco to taste

Procedures

Put the beans in a large pot with water to cover. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil; skim the foam if necessary. Cover loosely and cook at a gentle simmer, stirring very occasionally; add additional water if necessary.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet and cook the garlic and vegetables over medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the chili powder (or alternate spices) and stir. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes break up, 10-15 minutes.
When the beans are almost all the way cooked (after about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes; start checking frequently after 50 minutes, since much depends on your particular beans), stir the sautéed vegetables and tomatoes into the beans. Cook until the beans are cooked through and completely tender (keep tasting and checking; this is the secret of cooking beans, at least for me, not to quit until they’re done). Discard the bay leaves, if you used them, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Put 3 cups of the bean-vegetable mixture into another saucepan, one that can hold at least double their bulk comfortably. (You will probably have more than 3 cups of beans and vegetables; freeze the excess.) If the beans in the saucepan are swimming in liquid, cook them gently until they are moist but not inundated.
Add the rice and warmed coconut milk to the beans and vegetables. Cover and turn the heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. If necessary, uncover and raise the heat to medium-high; cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley or cilantro, and serve. A dash or two of Tabasco tastes very good with the coconut milk.

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