Working from home can be kind of weird. You're at home and have access to all the same stuff you'll have access to for dinner - pots, pans, ingredients, meats, oils, butter, spices - but yet actually cooking a full-on lunch seems ludicrous most days. Opening a can of something and splatting it into a bowl is pretty seriously involved on most weekdays. This dish is my answer to that. I've been meaning to throw together a how-to on my favorite slap-it-together lunch and today I have. Only... of course, as always happens, I was way hungry and just scrambled through it and my pictures *blow*. Oh well, I get the point across. You can deal. Here's what we're making: tuna and white bean salad on a bed of arugula (if it's on a bed it's fancy schmancy, right?)
You'll need:
- A can of white beans
- A can of tuna
- Green onions
- Olive oil (the good stuff, if you have it)
- A lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Anchovies (optional - just one or two)
I buy all this crap at Trader Joe's because I freakin' love Trader Joe's and compulsively shop there. Also, they have really good really cheap wine, which I do not suggest starting on at 1pm on a workday.
Okay, this is where I might lose you. But if you didn't want that anchovy in your salad, you don't need this step away. But I suggest you try the anchovy. It doesn't make the salad taste fishy (the tuna will do that fine) - it just gives it a depth. Anyway, get out your fuckin' mortar and pestle and grind that little baby fish (or two) up. Then squeeze in half a lemon and a whole bunch of olive oil. Don't be shy, you're eating arugula with this.
The protein in the anchovy and the acid in the lemon will make the emulsification easy - just pestle it on up - see?
Cut up the green onion and throw that can of tuna and the beans, drained, into your big tupperware.
Then pour the whole thing from the mortar and pestle into the container. Put on the lid and shake it around. Taste - it might need more salt, pepper, lemon.
And if you're being good, you'll let it rest a good half hour in the fridge. If you're anything like me, you'll get impatient and plow through half your lunch while you're typing up a post about it. Anyway, put a whole mess of arugula (or whatever green you like) in a bowl - no dressing needed. Then add on a whole bunch of your tuna and bean salad. And then eat it. It's really filling and makes two servings so you can - again, if you're anything like me - scarf down the rest around 3pm.
What the heck do y'all entrepreneurs eat?
There are two mandatory items here and neither of them is eggplant. I'm pretty sure you could do this dish with any kind of soft squash and will probably hit up some zucchini in the near future. The two items you need are Trader Joe's Organic Sour Cream and an olive oil mister. Now, to be fair, I made this before I got the mister but life is way better with it. I bought one on Amazon for like $11 so just suck it up. And the Trader Joe's sour cream.... seriously, don't make this with Daisy. I have eaten sour cream my entire life, with abandon, and this freakin' sour cream is by far the best I've ever had. I don't know why it's so tasty but it is really, really tasty. I more or less invented this dish so I could eat sour cream on something.
Now then! Heat your oven to 350 or 400 and put a sheet of parchment or foil down on a baking sheet. Take an eggplant and slice it up - pretty thin. You can use the big purple ones like I did here, but it's even tastier if you get the long light purple ones like they have at the Asian grocery. And, like I said, you could really easily use zucchini or yellow squash too. Slice that bitch up, mist the hell out of it with the olive oil mister and then do some salt and pepper. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes on the first side, flip, mist, and do another 10 or so minutes. If you're cooking big eggplant, do the whole 30 minutes but if you're doing the smaller eggplants or zucchini, adjust the time down. You want the thinnest pieces to burn some, but the other pieces to just get soft.
Then take a couple tablespoons of sour cream (did I mention I love sour cream?) and throw into that: a couple garlic cloves, chopped (also love garlic, y'all, get with it), the juice of 1/4 lemon or so and a healthy handful of dill, chopped really small, and salt and pepper. Mix it up and throw it in the fridge to gel while the eggplant cooks.
You may have noticed my recipes aren't recipes so much as "put some of this" and "cook for about half an hour... or you know, around there". It's how I cook. My apologies to all the Type A cooks who need a set of directions.
Anyway! Eggplant will be done when the thinnest pieces are burning up a bit on the edges and the thicker pieces are just getting a bit browned and looking wilty. Take 'em out, throw 'em on a plate with an enormous quantity of the sour cream mix and eat away. Vegetarian! This is seriously good for me for lunch - eggplant has a real meaty taste and there's plenty of fat to keep you full. Also, eggplant absorbs oil like a bitch, so if you don't have a mister and go with a brush, just have a gentle hand or else you will be eating tablespoons of oil. Enjoy!
We were eating through all the foods and wines David and Carrie had been saving - hence the foie gras and caviar and things. The salmon rillettes I demanded. We had them during my wedding weekend way back on when at Buchon. We have been unable to repeat them exactly, though this time we came much closer.
I'm in a tie too, just wanted to show.
David changed out of his tuxedo to cook, the bastard.
For those who would be curious: all of these were taken with the Fuji x100, probably at 3200 or 6400 ISO. It's a nifty little camera.