high (noon) tea

jury lunch #5:

Tea Sandwiches

A bag of arugula, smoked salmon, roasted tomatoes, one leftover hardboiled egg and strip of bacon turned into 3 kinds of "tea sandwiches". I guiltily bought a loaf of white bread - can't even remember the last time I bought white bread - and some prosciutto from Trader Joe's and hurriedly started to see what kind of sandwiches I could come up with. The egg and bacon became egg salad and arugula, the salmon got combined with butter and chives, and finally the tomato got combined with half of the prosciutto.

The other half was used to wrap 5 remaining figs I also found in the fridge.

I made some Earl Grey tea in a thermos and off I went to join Jimmy.

This was a nice, no cook lunch. Easy to eat - no utensils needed - and the white bread made the sandwiches a little fancy. A definite step above peanut butter and jelly!

breakfast salad

jury duty lunch #4:

Bacon, Egg and Frisee salad

Today's lunch was inspired by the Baby Frisee and Lardon salad from Mike and Anne's Restaurant, in South Pasadena. One of my favorite salads there, it somehow makes me think about eating in a French bistro.

My version involved eyeballed amounts of the following:

for the salad:
small head of frisee ( I got mine at the herb lady's stand at the Pasadena Farmer's market)
tomato - chopped or sliced in half if small enough (I like using cherry red and yellow pear tomatoes)
crisp fried bacon, torn into small pieces
fried sunnyside up eggs

for the dressing: mix the following ingredients
onions or shallot, chopped small
dijon mustard
sherry vinegar
squeeze of lemon juice
olive oil
salt
pepper

I tear the frisee into bite sized pieces, and toss it with the dressing. Then I usually distribute the frisee into individual serving bowls, strew bacon and tomato on the top, and finally top each portion with a fried egg. (Today I packed the salad into a lidded container and served onto paper plates).

I find this to be a super relaxed and tasty single dish meal to throw together.

weekday picnic

jury duty lunch #3:
Quinoa salad with Peppers and Tomatoes

Today is Monday, and my husband's jury duty has carried over from last week. I've been bringing lunch to him and eating it there together. I thought it would be fun to make something new and special every day - and turn lunch break into a sort of picnic.

Serving jury service in Pasadena has its perks; so far we've dined at three nearby courtyards; Plaza Las Fuentes, City Hall and Paseo Colorado. All have been nice places to eat lunch at.

Last week I did sandwiches and side salads that were easy to pack and eat. Both improvised Lamb with Roasted Tomato sandwiches and Salmon with egg salad sandwiches turned out great, so the pressure was on today for another hit. Being the start of a new week, I felt like eating something healthy. I remember Element's Kitchen (in Pasadena) having a memorable Quinoa salad, and I want to make something similar.

I've never tried cooking with red quinoa before so it was time to try using it in this recipe. The red quinoa sets off the colors of the other ingredients in this salad beautifully. Instead of roasting the peppers as the recipe asked, I used them raw, and added parsley. I used a Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato and a Persian cucumber that was on hand. The orange juice used to cook the quinoa turned out to be very effective. It lent a bright, full flavor and the pine nuts rounded the dish out very nicely with their toasted nuttiness.

I will make this dish again :)




http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quinoa-salad-with-roasted-peppers-and-tomatoes