Brown-Bag Salad with Crunchies

The newest in my Weekday Lunch series, where I tell the tale of eating one meal a day on the job, and actually enjoying it. For all you weekday lunch enthusiasts, the wonderful ladies at BGSK have launched Brown Bag Week on their Small Kitchen College site. You can learn about great bag lunch ideas, and win some pretty awesome stuff from BuiltNY. Go check it out!

See that photo up there? I shot that with my iphone, at work. It's a picture of yesterday's lunch, but it easily could have been a picture from any day this week. For the past little while, I've been bringing some version of this very easy salad for work every day, and it's pretty much made my summer.

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I think people assume that a brown bag lunch must be either a one-pot dish like pasta salad, or a wrap/sandwich. I'm of the opinion that almost anything can be brought to work for lunch (need proof? Check out my Weekday Lunch series), and salads are no exception. The key is to pack them smartly. Let's discuss.

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But first, what's in the dixie bowl? Well, we've got some of my favorite salad greens - a mix of spinach, arugula, and sorrel that I get at the market on Sundays - chopped; raw, bi-color corn kernels; halved cherry tomatoes; chopped cucumbers; and finally, the crowning ingredient, the thing that really makes this salad sing: crunchies.

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Every salad needs some crunch. Yes? Yes. It really can be anything: croutons, crisped up bits of cheese, nuts, you name it. For this salad, I used a mix of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, grated unsweetened coconut, and black currants for sweetness, but feel free to use whatever nuts, seeds, or bits suit your fancy (bonus points for already being in the larder, am I right?) I've used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and even bread crumbs in the past. The goal is just to have something to crunch down on, something to give the salad textural contrast and an added layer of flavor. I've been toasting the crunchies in a non-stick pan with just a couple teaspoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a bit of smoked paprika. (If you don't have smoked, regular will do.) Once they're nice and brown, I spread them on a sheet of foil to cool, then add the currants to the mix. Usually, I do this the night before. That way, I can grab my salad and the bag of crunchies and head off to work in no time.

Back to the beginning for a moment: bringing salad for lunch is all about the packing method. I'm a stickler for tomatoes living outside the fridge, since chilling them really kills their flavor. If I'm bringing a salad without cheese, I'll store the whole thing outside the fridge until lunch, which, given the AC in my building, is totally 100% fine. If we've got cheese in there, I'll refrigerate it. But I never refrigerate the tomatoes. I bring them in a separate bag or container, which both prevents them from getting chilled with everything else, and prevents them from sogging up the rest of my salad. Crucial detail.

Crunchies, of course, are also stored separately. At lunchtime, I add in the tomatoes, the crunchies, and some of the dressing (which I bring in a little recycled jam jar), toss, and eat. It's that simple. I get that some people find dressing to be a pain, so here's a tip: buy a bottle of olive oil and a salt shaker and store them at work. Bring half a lemon every day. There, you've got yourself easy vinaigrette.

If you've got a totally different spread of vegetables at home, by all means, make this anyway. Swap cucs for zucs, arugula for romaine, carrots for tomatoes. Whatever works, whatever you like. Salad is a great brown-bag lunch: that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

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Brown-Bag Salad with Crunchies

For the salad:

1 cup lightly packed salad greens 6 cherry tomatoes 1 persian (small seedless) cucumber half an ear of corn, raw 1/4 cup chopped mixed herbs (I've been using chives and mint, but any herbs are fine - you can also skip them entirely if they seem too fussy)

For the crunchies:

1/2 cup mixed nuts, seeds, and bits (almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, grated unsweetened coconut, bread crumbs, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, you name it) 1-2 tablespoons dried black currants or raisins, optional 2 teaspoons olive oil salt and pepper (I use a pinch and a smidge of salt, and about 3 grinds of pepper 1/2 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika

For the dressing:

Either use the lemon-olive oil-salt trick I discussed above, or make the dressing I make:

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon grainy mustard 3 teaspoons olive oil salt and pepper

Make the crunchies:

In a small nonstick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add nuts, seeds, and bits, and toss to coat. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook, tossing or stirring occasionally, until nuts are evenly browned and smell fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. If using currants, add to cooled mixture. Transfer to a storage container.

Now, make the salad: Roughly chop salad greens. Dice cucumber. Remove kernels from corn cob. Halve cherry tomatoes.

Combine greens, cucs, corn, and herbs in a large reusable container. Put tomatoes in a separate container or bag. Stick both in your lunch tote. Add those crunchies to your tote, too. If you're making dressing, pour that into a jar and bring it along. The eating part is probably self-explanatory.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressing

This is the latest my Weekday Lunch series, where I share recipes suited to home or office.

[Sheepishly:] Remember me?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something fresh. I've been too busy at work to cook, and unless y'all wanted to read about the take-out pad thai I ate for dinner all of last week, I didn't have much to share.

But now work has calmed down, and my new-found freedom coincides nicely with some of the most awesomely beautiful days DC's had in a while. Sun-plus-breeze is something DC gets only about 4 days a year, and I'm determined to be outside for all of them.

Last Sunday got me to my first farmers' market in a long while. I picked up some beautiful asparagus - bunches and bunches; people, I can't control myself - as well as some ramps, green garlic, and heavy cream, which my favorite dairy stand just started carrying. It'd be a great food week even if you didn't compare to the last couple, but in light of those dim days full of takeout, I'm high on fresh produce.

My love of asparagus being no secret, I'm sharing yet another recipe for those beautiful 'gus. The ones we're getting right now aren't the least bit woody - in fact, they're nice and slender. If yours feel too rough, simply peel the bottoms of the bigger ones; their interiors should be plenty soft.

The recipe I'm sharing today is a slight riff on one from Amanda Hesser's New York Times Essential Cookbook which, to my delight, just won a James Beard award. Three cheers for Amanda! This recipe, like so many others in that book, is just beautiful. For those of you with ambivalent feelings about bulgur, this will change your mind. Also, as Amanda points out, it'll make you wish you had preserved lemons in your fridge at all times. I do, and I've never been happier at being able to just grab one from the jar and whiz it into this bright, tangy, complex dressing.

Friends, it's nice to be back in this space. I'm looking forward to trying and sharing many more Spring recipes with all of you.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressingadapted from The New York Times Essential Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser

I changed a few things about this recipe to make it a convenient workday lunch. First, it originally was a prepared salad, but I just chopped up the asparagus and folded them into the bulgur. Second, I subbed out pine nuts (mine had spoiled) for toasted walnuts, and I liked the combination of the somewhat bitter nuts with the bright asparagus and the saltiness of the dressing. Third, I like my bulgur a bit wet, so I used some extra water in cooking it to give a more porridge-y texture. Since no one else seems to like it this way, I included her original instructions here.

For the dressing: 1 preserved lemon 7 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (freshly ground if possible) 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

For the asparagus and bulgur: 1 pound asparagus, cut into 2-inch lengths 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 cup bulgur 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I toasted mine for 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, but listen to your nose; when they smell fragrant, they're done)

To make the dressing, cut the preserved lemon in half. Chop one half and place all of it in a blender. Use a spoon to remove the pulp from the remaining half and add only the pulp to the blender. Save the rind for another use. Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the blender and process until smooth. Set aside.

To make the asparagus and bulgur, bring a large pot 2/3 full of salted water to a boil and add the asparagus. Cook just until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge the asparagus into cold water. If not shocking asparagus, cook just 3 minutes, since they will continue to cook off the heat. Cool, drain, and set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the bulgur and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and the salt and bring to a boil. Cover the skillet, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the water has evaporated and the bulgur is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and bring to room temperature.

Place the cooled bulgur in a large serving bowl. Toss with asparagus and walnuts, and drizzle dressing overtop. Fold to coat salad with dressing. Serve at room temperature.

Salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Rigatoni with Radish Pesto and Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

A couple weeks ago, my friend Jeremy told you using the last of the summer bumper crop to make oven-roasted tomatoes. Like the diligent readers you are, several of you went and made your own oven-roasted tomatoes. But then you emailed me later that week asking what to do with the oven-roasted tomatoes you had made. Recognizing that my first-impulse answer, "what can't you do with them?!" wasn't exactly so helpful, I started a list of ways to use these plump little suckers. Toss a couple on pizza; pile them in a heap on baked feta and serve with pita chips; add to roasted broccoli and drizzle vinaigrette over the whole mess; and so forth.

One suggestion I neglected to share, of course, was to toss them with pasta. Ironically, that's my most frequent use for them. I toss them with spaghetti and finish with parmesan, I add them to baked dishes like ziti and lasagna, and -- as you'll see -- I mix them with some rigatoni and coat it all with pesto. In this combination, the tomatoes brighten the pesto-coated pasta, punctuating with sweetness and acid. Once you've got the tomatoes, the dish takes about 25 minutes to make, though the results would suggest otherwise. An added plus: this doubles as weekday lunch. What more could you ask for?

The pesto is delicious -- though "radish pesto" is perhaps a misnomer, since the pesto is made not with the radishes themselves, but with their leaves. After years of buying radishes from the farmers' market and watching the forlorn greens wilt away in the fridge, I discovered this wonderful recipe on Food52 and haven't turned back since. The recipe is by "Oui, Chef," a regular contributor whose recipes are some of the most well-conceived on the site. I've always been one to add acid (lemon juice, lemon zest) to my pesto, and when Oui, Chef did so as well, I knew I had to read on. His pesto recipe combines traditional ingredients (basil, garlic, olive oil) with less traditional ones (feta, marcona almonds, chives -- stay tuned for more about them later this week), and the result is divine.

It's not only the tomatoes that have multiple uses, by the way. This pesto is exceedingly versatile. Shmear some on slices of bread or pieces of baguette, top with feta or ricotta, maybe some chopped tomatoes, and lettuce, and you have a lovely vegetarian lunch. Drop dollops onto pizza dough with a couple thin slices of radish, and some pecorino, and you have yourself a unique and delicious pizza. Add some to a vinaigrette and use it to dress beans (from a can is totally fine) for a nice variation on bean salad. You get the drift. One spread, many uses. Just the way I like it.

Rigatoni with Radish Pesto and Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

1 pound rigatoni or other large tube pasta 1/2 cup oven-dried tomatoes 3/4 cup radish and basil pesto (recipe by Oui,Chef on Food52 -- printed below with my adjustments) Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to large bowl. Mix in pesto and tomatoes, and grate 1/4 cup cheese over top. Mix to incorporate; serve warm or at room temperature.

Radish and Basil Pesto via Food52

1 cup packed fresh radish greens, well washed and dried 1 cup packed basil leaves, well washed and dried 2 cloves garlic 1/4 cup marcona almonds 1/4 cup olive oil Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/4 cup feta cheese, cut or broken into chunks 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 3 radishes, finely minced 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh chives Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Place garlic and almonds in the bowl of a small food processor with a pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper, and pulse until finely minced.

Add the radish and basil leaves, and process while pouring the olive oil through the feed tube, stopping as needed to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue until oil has been incorporated and pesto is smooth.

Add feta and radishes, and pulse just until broken up into small bits -- this is where the pesto gets chunky. If you prefer a completely smooth pesto, process for longer at this stage.

Pour pesto into a medium sized bowl, and mix in the lemon juice, grated parmesan, and chives.

Test for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper or lemon juice as desired. Spoon into an air-tight container just big enough to hold all the pesto, pour a thin layer of olive oil to coat the top, and store in fridge. Pesto will keep for up to 1 week.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

It's Memorial Day weekend, and barbeque is king. No doubt you've seen more than enough burger recipes in the past 48 hours; don't worry, that's not what I'm sharing today. No, no. I'm here for the vegetarians and the newly-minted lessmeatarians. Let's make sure they (um, we) are well cared for this holiday weekend. And, while there are approximately several thousand potluck-friendly vegetarian recipes, another never hurts. Because we all know Monday's side dishes will be Tuesday's tupperware lunch and Wednesday's leftover dinner. So let's make'em good, shall we?

If you make nothing else this weekend, you'll be in great shape with this chickpea salad. It is dead simple to make, people. Embarrassingly so. I soaked and cooked fresh chickpeas, but if we're being perfectly honest, there's no need to go to all the fuss. Canned are absolutely fine here. And I know I often say what follows, but that's because it's true: this recipe is by no means set in stone. It can be altered in any number of ways, a few of which I list here. Don't get hung up if you're missing one or two of the ingredients. Green garlic can swap out for regular garlic, scallions for red onions, cumin seeds for the ground stuff, anardana for sumac, and now I'll stop listing. If all you've got is chickpeas, cumin, feta, and lemon juice, you're 90% of the way there. And while I'm sure tomatoes would be great in this salad the first time around, I really can't stand them once their refrigerated, as leftovers always are, so I've left them out. Feel free to add them back in, if you'd like. If you're cooking vegetarians, lessmeatarians, or plain ole' people who can't eat just burgers for 48 hours straight (yes, I recognize that that's not an all-inclusive category), I guarantee this chickpea salad will please across the board.

Also, because this should never go without saying: let's all take a couple moments this weekend to recognize those who have given their time, their energy, and their lives in service to our country. Our freedom owes in no small measure to their sacrifices. Say thanks with words, say thanks with chickpea salad; either way, let's all show our gratitude.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad heavily adapted from a recipe in the New York Times

1 pound chickpeas, soaked and cooked; if using canned, rinse 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped 2 scallions, chopped (can substitute1/4 red onion, chopped) 1/4 cup small kalamata or greek olives, halved (optional) 1 medium-sized hunk (about 4 ounces) feta cheese, cubed a handful various herbs, roughly chopped (I used thyme, tarragon, mint, and dill; basil and parsley would also be great)

juice and zest 1 lemon 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (can substitute balsamic) 1 bulb and stem of green garlic, chopped (can substitute 1 clove regular garlic, chopped) 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant (can substitute 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin) 1/2 teaspoon anardana powder (dried crushed pomegranate seed; can substitute 1/2 teaspoon sumac) 2 tablespoons yogurt salt and pepper to taste

In a medium serving bowl, combine chickpeas, pepper, onion, olives, feta, and herbs. In a small mixing bowl, combine lemon, red wine vinegar, green garlic, cumin seeds, anardana, and yogurt. Mix with a fork until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over salad and mix to distribute. Serve. (Salad will keep for several days.)