two quick/easy/healthy lunches

whether you bring your lunch to work or eat lunch at home or school, making it is one of those hassle-y things that you either sigh and do or sigh and don't do and then you end up buying a sub-par sandwich from the little shop on the ground floor of your office building.

wait, i guess that's only related to the bringing-your-lunch-to-work thing. and it's really only related to my work, because probably not everyone is lucky enough to work in office buildings containing shops with mediocre sandwiches on the ground floor.

anyway, i've never been that into making lunches. but i try to do it, because on tuesdays and thursdays i have to be Out and About for like 13 hours so if i don't make one i get into the whole sandwich shop malarkey and am mad at myself later.

two lunches that have been treating me right lately are a beans/kale/tomato melange and a vaguely asian chicken and broccoli thing. both are super quick and quite tasty and they will power you through any number of meetings, memos, or research rabbit-holes you find yourself falling into.

kale is probably my favorite green. it's milder than other greens like mustard or chard and it has more texture and heft than boring old spinach (which also has the non-benefit of making my teeth feel weird - thanks oxalate, you jerk!).

anyway, for this you just need one bunch of kale (washed, stems removed, and chopped into vaguely bite-sized pieces - 1"-2" or so), some garlic and/or shallots or onion, a can of white beans, and a can of diced tomatoes. heat a teaspoon or so of oil in a large pan (medium heat), then add the garlic/shallot/onion. let these cook for a minute or so, then add the kale. stir it around a bit and let it go for another two minutes-ish, then add the tomatoes (with their juice) and the beans (drained and preferably rinsed, because that bean-juice in cans is so nastily viscous). then you are basically done. let it cook, stirring occasionally, for perhaps another 10 - 15 minutes or until the kale becomes texturally pleasing to you. that's it! maybe also add some salt. a little lemon juice or cider or balsamic vinegar is nice, too.

the great thing about this is that it's vegan and it has lots of protein and vitamins. you can also grate a little cheese on it if you're feeling frisky. we had some cotija cheese that went particularly well with it, but asiago or parmesan would also be nice. it's also good warm or at room temperature, so if you can't stand the thought of hanging in the breakroom with your homies, you can hunch over it in your cubicle while reading a magazine. your choice!

here are the ingredients of my lunch today. i roasted a chicken the other day, so we already had some cooked leftovers. if you don't have a roast chicken in your fridge, you could always get one of those rotisserie ones or use tofu or add the extra step of cooking up a chicken breast. but it's definitely quicker if you have chicken that's already cooked. obviously.

other than that you just need a stalk of broccoli, a couple of cloves of garlic, a shallot (or equivalent amount of onion, or just leave it out), and perhaps half a jalapeño or other pepper (this one was mild). you can also add whatever else you have around - scallions and/or cilantro would be nice, as would some peanuts or cashews. but lo! i had none of those.

this is actually kind of similar to the kale thing in that you cook the garlic and whatever (here, shallot and jalapeño) for a hot minute, then add the green stuff (broccoli!) and let it cook for a bit. once i put the broccoli in, i added a tablespoon or so of water and then covered the pan and let it steam-cook for about two or three minutes. basically from here on out it depends on how crunchy you want your broccoli to be. i think mine cooked for a total of 7 or 8 minutes. the timing also depends on how large your broccoli chunks are - the smaller they are, the faster they cook.

once it's just about done, add some soy sauce (to taste, but maybe 1-2 teaspoons) and a teaspoon or so of sesame oil. then add the chicken (if you're using tofu, you could add it soon after the broccoli or cook it separately so it gets sort of crunchy) just to let it get all melded with the other stuff. also, incidentally, i was eating this at home, so i wanted to get it heated through. yay for home-lunch!

when you're ready to eat, a dollop of chili-garlic sauce is a great addition, as is sriracha, if you haven't already used it all up in some terrible apocalypse drink.

if you're taking it to work, you'll probably want to keep it cold until you're ready to eat it because salmonella.

*ingredients for kale thing*

1-2 cloves garlic

1 shallot or 1/4 of an onion

1 small bunch kale

1 can white beans

1 can diced tomatoes

salt

balsamic or cider vinegar, optional

cheese, optional

*ingredients for chicken-broccoli thing*

2 cloves garlic

1 shallot or 1/4 of an onion

1/2 mild jalapeño or other chili or some red bell pepper

1 largish stalk broccoli

1/3 - 1/2 cup chopped, cooked chicken

soy sauce and sesame oil, to taste

chili-garlic sauce and/or sriracha, to taste

other good additions - sesame seeds, nuts, other vegetables

listening to: the clientele

the best kale salad

i thought about just calling this The Best Salad. it is certainly close to the top, and in terms of simplicity and deliciousness it's really quite the little contender.

it contains only 5 ingredients (plus salt and pepper, but those are really just a given. i don't think they count as ingredients. but if you disagree, then this salad has but 7 ingredients. that's still pretty simple.). it is so healthy, you will feel your muscles growing as you eat it, a la popeye. however, it is also super delicious.

this is the kale you need. it is somewhat sly and into subterfuge, so it goes by many names: lacinato kale, tuscan cabbage, tuscan kale, dinosaur kale, black cabbage, cavolo nero... actually, i guess those last two are the same name in different languages. still, depending on the pretentiousness of the store at which you shop, you may see it called any of these. it seems like it's more tender than the curly kale one normally sees, and it may be slightly harder to find, but i've seen it in many different grocery stores, so i think it's not that hard to get hold of. you could maybe make this with regular kale, but i don't know if it would be as good.

once the kale is washed, take the stems out. there is a video for this! it is way easy.

then pile all of the leaves together, holding them in a tight bunch so they're easier to slice. then cut them with a sharp knife so you can get them really thin, the thinner the better. this will ensure that they won't be too tough, since you're not going to be cooking them.

once you've sliced up the kale, you're practically done. this is where the other 4 - 6 ingredients come into play. the one that might cause you the most trouble is the cheese - ricotta salata. it's ricotta that's been dried and salted and pressed and it is really nothing like those tubs of ricotta one uses for lasagna, etc. it's not as hard as parmesan, but you can grate it.

i was going to say that one could perhaps use feta instead, but i really think it's worthwhile to find the real stuff. i haven't had this salad with another cheese and i don't want to. the cheese kind of makes the whole thing. i have seen it here in portland at new seasons, and in austin at central market, and i'm sure places like whole foods would have it. also apparently you can get it online.

the other ingredients are shallot, lemon, and olive oil. you definitely want the juice from the whole lemon. sometimes i grate some of the lemon zest in as well, sometimes not. follow your bliss. if you are using zest, it is roughly a million times easier to zest the lemon before you juice it, fyi.

the amount of shallot you use is somewhat to taste. i usually use about 2 tablespoons or so of finely minced shallot per bunch of kale. the oil's like that too - usually i mix the shallot, lemon juice and kale together, add a tablespoon or three of oil, taste it, and put in more oil if it seems like it needs it. it depends on how big your bunch of kale is, how much juice is in the lemon, and how oily you like things to be.

finally, add the grated ricotta salata. i usually grate it on the largest-holed side of the grater, but you could also just cut it into small chunks or even use your hands to break it up over the salad. once you mix it, it will fall apart a little more, too, so it gets all nicely mixed in. then add salt and pepper to taste. ricotta salata is pretty salty itself, so that's why i wait on the salt until after adding the cheese.

as with so many chopped salad-type things, this is best if you make it ahead of time and let it sit for a couple of hours. this allows the flavors to come together more and i think the lemon juice makes the kale tenderize a little. science!

even if you think you don't like kale, you might like this. i keep seeing other things one can make with lacinato (etc) kale, but i never make them because whenever i buy it, all i want to do is eat this salad.

*ingredients*

1 bunch lacinato kale

2 tablespoons-ish minced shallot

1 lemon - juiced

1-3+ tablespoons good olive oil

3-4 ounces ricotta salata

salt

pepper