Food

WORKING IT: BEAUTIFUL LUNCH

Now that we’re back to our desks after a beautiful summer and a busy Labor Day, we thought it make our work a bit more welcome if we punctuated it with a beautiful lunch from home. Here are some some ideas about food, as well as how to carry it, that got us really excited. They’re visually, tastefully, and simply gorgeous.

This new leather lunchbag, from Celine, is buttery soft. It’s a brownbaggers’s splurge. But you might find yourself wanting to bring lunch to the office more often if you can pack it on one of these. So it might all balance out! The luxe brown bag came on the scene last summer, with Jil Sanders’ coated paper and leather versions, along with Acne’s . But they’re hard to find now, so we’re glad to see new entries.

Photo: Courtesy of Stampd LA. Medium Bodega Bag

This Medium Bodega Bag from Stampd LA looks the most like the original paper sack, but its constructed in full-grained stamped leather. It’s pure approach glorifies the brown bag aesthetic, without trying to transform it, and there’s something really nice about that.

Time to fill them with something special:

Photo: Courtesy of Joy the Baker

Now, you need a beautiful sandwich to pack into your luscious leather lunchbag. (Wrapped super-well so it doesn’t leave its mark, of course.)

Here’s a wonderful, creative, recipe that will perk up even the grayest of workdays, from Joy the Baker. Rafts of coffee-and-spice-glazed bacon lay across fresh spinach leaves on a bed of lemony goat-cheese-and-date-slathered rustic toast. If you want your leaves to be at their best, wrap/pack them separately and assemble the sandwich easily at your desk.

Coffee Bacon Sandwiches

Recipe from Joy the Baker Cookbook

For the Bacon:

8 slices uncooked bacon

1/4 cup freshly ground coffee

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon water

For the Spread:

4 ounces goat cheese

4 medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the Sandwich:

fresh baby spinach leaves

crusty, toasted bread

Lay cascading bacon slices atop one another so that the fat is on top. Place bacon on top of a piece of plastic wrap or brown butcher paper.
In a small bowl, stir together ground coffee, chili powder, brown sugar, molasses, and water. Spread the mixture on top of the bacon slices, pressing with the back of a spoon. The coffee topping will only be on the top, fatted rim of the bacon.
Wrap the bacon and coffee in the plastic wrap or butcher paper and place in the fridge. You may want to put the mixture in a large sealable back to prevent any leaking. Let sit for 2 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pay separate bacon slices on the paper in a single layer. If you prefer, you can wipe some of the ground coffee marinade off before baking. The majority of the coffee will only be on the top layer of the bacon slice.
Bake until browned and crisp, 14 to 17 minutes, or until bacon has reached your desired crispiness. Remove from the oven, allow to drain on a piece of paper towel and assemble goat cheese spread.

To make the Spread:

In a medium bowl, place goat cheese, pitted dates, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and red pepper flakes.
Use a fork to mash the ingredients together. Mash until well incorporated. Add a touch more lemon juice or olive oil to reach your desired consistency.

Spread goat cheese mixture on buttered and toasted bread. Top with coffee bacon and fresh spinach. Serve immediately. Makes 4 sandwiches.

Photo: Courtesy of ECOlunchbox. Three in One Bento Boxes

If you’d rather tote a lunch box vs a lunch bag, this one might make you smile. It’s a sleekly styled 3-piece stainless steel set of bento boxes by ECOlunchbox. You can pack them separately a simple lunch or nest them if you want extra sides or dessert. They’re great for sushi, of course, but they’re also perfect for composed salads, glorified leftovers, and grazing.

Photo: James Ransom. Courtesy of Food52.

Lunch in a Jar

Lunch in a jar doesn’t sound anywhere near as appealing as it really can be. We found some great ideas that layer beautiful ingredients in quart-sized canning jars, for a perfectly gorgeous working lunch.

We found this beautiful set of Le Parfait Bail Closure Canning Jars at Provisions, the brand new online shopping arm of Food52. They’re classically fashioned 35 ounce glass jars, with rubber gaskets and metals clips to hold them tight. And we found some great ideas for how to fill them:

Photo: Courtesy of Lunchbox Bunch. Vegan Salad in a jar

Salads work especially well. Fragile leaves, delicate vegetable and fruit pieces, and even edible flowers stay fresh, and un-bruised. You can put dressing at the bottom, so nothing gets soggy while it waits for you, and can simply mix it up at your desk when you’re ready to dine. Plus, seeing each stratum of color and texture, is often quite pretty.

Here’s a slew of combinations from LunchboxBunch to try. You can even make them a few days ahead because the jars keep foods really fresh.

#1 Green Garden

EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
diced persian cucumbers
diced tomato
arugula + baby spinach
raw pistachios
edible flowers
diced dried apricots

#2 Butter Bean Bliss

EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
sweet Maui onion, diced
butter beans
arugula + baby chard
raw walnuts
Cajun Spiced Quinoa
diced dried apricots

#3 Sunny Kale Kruncher

EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
radish, diced
sweet Maui onion, diced
walnuts
kale + shredded carrots + cabbage, chopped
seedless tangerine segments

#4 Quinoa Oasis

EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
red onion
Cajun Spiced Quinoa
kale + carrots
walnuts
edible flowers

For more information about these and other lunch in a jar ideas, visit the lunchboxbunch.

Photo: Courtesy of Etsy. Vintage Refrigerator Box

We like the idea of eliminating plastic from our kitchen and lunchboxes as much as possible. We prefer glass for food storage. And small or medium sized glass or ceramic refrigerator box can be great vessels for your desktop lunch. Yes, they’re heavier than plastic, but it’s healthier for you and the planet. And they’re more fragile, but if you pack them well, and your commute isn’t too rough and tumble, they’ll work fine.

We scouted out some really lovely vintage glass and ceramic food storage containers, and found some on Etsy, that would make your work lunch even more of a joy. Or, if you prefer, there a some nice new basic versions of these available from places like Williams Sonoma.

Photo: Courtesy of Food52. Poached Tuna the Sequel.

For more great working lunch inspirations to fill your containers (and bags), we head back to Food52 to check out Amanda’s Kids’ Lunch posts. They’re not just for kids, in fact, they’re pretty sophisticated, yet perfectly simple to make. Try Amanda’s poached tuna, avocado, and pea tendril composition, with lime garlic dressing.

Photo: Courtesy of Food52. A Lunch for Tomato Season

Or try Amanda’s gorgeous Lunch for Tomato Season, with golden cherry tomatoes, poached shrimp, pink pickled onions, and basil, with olive oil and lemon dressing.

Amanda has plenty of other exceptionally considered lunch ideas for you. You’ll be surprised and delighted. And yes, her kids are extremely lucky lunchers.

And for your desktop lunch reading pleasure:

"The Beautiful Sandwich"

She could always make

the most beautiful sandwich.

Laced swiss cheese: sliced

crossways, folded once.

Ham in rolls like sleeping bags.

Turkey piled like shirts.

Tarragon. Oregano. Pepper.

Herb dill mayonnaise the color of

skin. On top: the thin, wandering line of

mustard

like a contour on a map

in a thin, flat drawer.

Or a single, lost vein.

The poppyseeds hold on,

for now.

Placed on a plate like isolated

driftwood

or a large, solemn head.

The spilled chips in yellow piles

are like the strange coins

of tall, awkward islanders.

The thin dill pickle: their boat

slides into

the green-sour sea.

Lawrence Press, 2011.

Check out stories about Beautiful Work all this week on BeautifulNow, including New Spaces for Beautiful Work, The Beautiful Impact of Work, Beautiful Wild Work, and more in our Arts/Design, Place/Time, and Mind/Body genres.

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