Ladies Who Lunch
Three lunches from three women on the internet, for those who get hungry and lose all capacity to make a meal.
I’m a recipe lover - but not in the middle of the day. There’s something about being midway through the tasks of the day, thinking about what has to happen that afternoon and evening that leaves me impotent, irritable and hungry yet unable to think of a single thing to cook or eat, and no desire to try and follow instructions or pop to the shops for missing ingredients. Some days, I end up telling myself that toast, or a baby’s snacky plate of food is enough for me too, and I end up spending the whole afternoon snacking on biscuits and fruit, trying to make it to dinner time where there’s a carefully planned meal waiting for me. What I need for this point in the day is something somewhere between an idea and a prescriptive recipe. I need a fleshed out idea for a meal that can bear the weight of adapting to whatever is in my fridge. It also needs to be filling with fibre, protein, and fat, as well as quick to make. Lucky for me, it’s not all nudes and scams on the internet and there are genuinely good content creators out there who provide much needed inspiration for those days when you genuinely can’t remember what a meal looks like when 12pm (or 2pm) rolls around.
Buckwheat Galette with Spinach, Egg and Cheese (Inspired by Manon Lagrève)
My first lunch recipe is the one that has excited me most recently - a Breton Buckwheat Galette. If none of those words mean anything to you, think a savoury pancake that is gluten free in its natural form. You do have to prepare the galettes but these are one thing I am happy to prep in advance. They’re so easy to make and I can have this two days in a row with galettes left over for toddler snacks which is great!
There are many galette and crepe recipes online, but the one I follow for this is;
80g Buckwheat flour
1 egg
250ml of milk (cows milk is traditional but rice/almond milk works well too)
Mix these together and let stand for 30 minutes or so (or just while you get the other ingredients ready if you forgot to do it earlier). Add a small amount of batter to a hot pan with melted butter, spreading it out to form a thin layer. This recipe usually makes 4-6 galettes for me.
Assembling the Meal:
Warm the galette in a pan and move to a plate. Sauté greens with a clove of garlic, salt and pepper. Push to one side of the pan and fry an egg on the other side. Spread mustard on galette and scatter with cheese (if using) then top with greens. Put the egg on top and fold edges of the galette in to make a square. Top with salt and pepper.
Loaded Tuna Chickpea Melt (Inspired by Saff Michaelis)
Saff Michaelis makes really fun mum and hosting content and this recipe was one of the first of hers I found. This is a twist on the classic tuna melt and I love this because its easy to make dairy free and I almost always have chickpeas and a tin of tuna in the back of the pantry somewhere. The babies love it too and it’s so satiating and delicious considering how quick it is to prepare.
You essentially mix the following in a bowl: Tuna, chickpeas, red onion, cheese, pesto (I always forget this), mayonnaise, yoghurt, garlic seasoning (I like Mingle Everything Bagel seasoning here), fresh herbs or spring onion (if you like, I add chives because they grow in our veggie box), a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Stir well and mash the chickpeas slightly then serve it on top of a toasted bagel or toast (I like dark rye bread but you’re the boss of your lunch, you know). You can also pop it under the grill for a few minutes and Saff tops it with siracha mayo. So easy, so delish, add and subtract as you would like!
Pasta Salad (Inspired by Marcia Hackl)
We’ve all heard of pasta salad already, I understand that. My problem with lunchtime is less not knowing what potential meals there are but remembering that they exist. Marcia Hackl (@lalalamarcia on IG and on Substack) reminded me of pasta salad with a fresh and simple offering that pops up in her videos. Key takeaways from Marcia include; using whatever fresh veg you have and including something fun like olives, sundried tomatoes, crunchy chickpeas or avocado. It meets the criteria of; filling, fresh, easy to make with things already in my kitchen and prepped in less than 15 minutes.
Some combinations I like are;capsicum, spinach, tomato, olives
Avocado, corn, capsicum, Spanish onion
Sundried tomatoes, fresh tomato, flaked almonds, lemon zest
Roast pumpkin, chickpeas, broccoli, pesto
Add a jammy egg or some cheese (Parmesan, Mozzarella, Comte - again you’re the boss here) and you’re good to go!
As always 😋 😘