What’s For Lunch?

A long-time Farmboy reader wants some ideas for lunch. She’s often at home during the day, and she wants a lunch that’s satisfying, but doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare. Something other than canned soup. She’s like a lot of us these days, working, retired, or just active at home. We’d like something simple and good to eat at midday, and we don’t want to think about cooking a full meal.

The quick answer to that question is to take a new look and an inventory of what’s available in your fridge and larder, then begin to think creatively about your next lunch. Danish chef and food writer Trine Hahnemann in Scandinavian Comfort Food calls those lunches “bix mix.” It’s not just a matter of heating up last night’s dinner; it’s reimagining it in a new creation.

To truly take advantage of these ideas, you might need to make some additional food purchases together with some weekend preparation. What you might end up with is a series of new salads, sandwiches, and homemade soups. Now that we’ve finished with the holidays, you might already have a fridge filled with leftovers. That’s a good thing. Make a quick list of what you have and try to find creative ways to use them before they become science projects. While you’re doing your inventory, how about checking out what you have for condiments and sauces?

New life for leftovers

Hannemann says that “snitter” – literally meaning chopped or sliced – is the Danish word for leftovers, and it’s her method of an easy lunch. Don’t just warm up that leftover dinner. The meat that wasn’t consumed by your guests is now fair game, so how about cutting it into cubes and frying it up in a small pan with some leftover potatoes and finely chopped fresh vegetables (to cook faster). Add some garlic and Worcestershire sauce or other flavoring, and that hash is a lunch. Not quite enough? Add a fried egg for a little more protein. Check the produce drawer for vegetables and be imaginative when it comes to adding bacon or eggs or cheese.

And by all means, make it fun. Toss some aromatics into the pan to start: chopped scallion or leek, that lone tomato that needs to be used or that celery stalk or bell pepper half. Then just add a collection of leftover roast beef, ham, or chicken and last night’s vegetables, and maybe a topping of grated cheddar or crumbled feta cheese. Do you have some dried cranberries or cherries or raisins in the cabinet? How about adding a sliced avocado or even apple or pear? You could serve it over a toasted hunk of sourdough or rye bread, as Hahnemann does. Here’s her recipe for a sandwich of leftover pork with cabbage and horseradish. When her daughter has friends over, she says, they top their pork sandwiches with gravy and a leftover salad.

Savory sandwiches

As an alternative, you might try what the Danes call smorrebrod – open-faced sandwiches. That same leftover poultry, beef, or pork could sit atop a thick slice of bread topped with your favorite condiment – mayo or mustard or chutney. For some added zest, how about some sliced cucumber or radish or chopped olives? If you’re going to make this a frequent lunch, you might want to pick up some pickled vegetables to top your smorrebrod. Besides dill pickles, you might find some pickled dill beans or carrots or asparagus at your local farmers market or in the specialty foods section. We have a jar of delicious pickled green tomatoes given to us by a friend that are really good with a tuna sandwich. If calories are an issue, think about making a lettuce wrap from these ingredients. Want just fast and simple? Make a smorrebrod with some scrambled eggs topped with pickled vegetables and chutney. Or maybe leftover roast chicken or turkey with cranberry mustard or aioli.

Salad stuff

If you’re craving a salad for lunch, don’t just go the usual way. Be creative with your greens and other additions. Consider adding sliced oranges, pomegranate, or other fruits along with some sliced toasted nuts or pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Spice it up with some pickled vegetables, goat cheese, capers, or a hard-boiled egg and some bacon bits. Check out those cooked vegetables from the fridge and consider whether they’d complement your salad. Green beans, peas, or corn, but also broccoli or cauliflower could be delicious with your greens. I am partial to a lunch of cottage cheese topped with canned or fresh fruit.

In the end, you might add some occasional additions to your weekly shopping: extra fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, unusual condiments, a loaf of good bread. And don’t forget lemons or limes for some homemade vinaigrette for those salads. So, what’s for lunch?

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