Fragrant Aubergine Salad

It’s Friday and the weather is fine which makes me a very happy girlie indeed. The sunshine is meant to last all through the weekend here, which makes sitting in an office all week worthwhile. The first wafts of barbeque smoke have already been rising so I’m certain that there’ll be lots of people partaking in a little al fresco grilling over the weekend.

I’ve been enjoying a delicious and uncomplicated salad this week which my family used to make from Ainsley Harriot’s Meals in Minutes cookbook. It’s ideal for a barbeque or picnic as it’s seriously easy to make (have it roasting away while you slap your sausages on the Barbie) and is great hot or cold. Any leftovers are pretty amazing the next day too; I’ve added them to a tasty and super speedy salad of spinach and roasted peppers for my work lunchbox this week.

Tasty Leftovers

While we’re on the subject of aubergine, you’ll notice that my recipe doesn’t include a stage for salting as you may have seen elsewhere. The Boy and I actually did an experiment a while back as we were thoroughly confused about whether you should or shouldn’t salt (namely because the recipes tell you to but I don’t recall my parents ever doing so without any detrimental effects). We sliced up an aubergine, salted half before cooking and fried the other half without. There was honestly no difference between the two except that the salted aubergine was, well, more salty. I haven’t bothered salting aubergine before cooking since then and generally miss out the step if it appears in recipes.



Aubergine Salad



Simple and Fragrant Roast Aubergine Salad

Serves 4 as a side dish

2 aubergines

Tight handful of mint leaves, chopped

Tight handful of coriander, chopped

Juice of half a lime (or lemon)

1 shallot, finely chopped

Sunflower oil for roasting

- Preheat the oven to 190C.

- Prepare the aubergines by slicing off the top and chopping the flesh into 2 – 3cm cubes then toss in 1 tbsp of oil.

- Spread out on a tray (I used a silicon sheet underneath to prevent it from sticking) and roast for 20 – 25 minutes turning every so often until the flesh starts to go golden brown around the edges.

- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly for a few minutes then sprinkle with juice, shallot and herbs. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Solitary Sandwich

Quite surprising - Starbuck's Roasted Chicken and Herb Mayo Sandwich

While away at a tradeshow for a few days, I was given the task of exploring a new and unfamiliar exhibition centre from an exhibitor point of view. Me being me, my primary objective was to scope out feasible food joints for easy refuelling during our (sometimes) gruelling professional performance.

You’d think that our ‘National Exhibition Centre’ (Birmingham’s NEC) would offer a brief representation of our nation’s culinary tastes but I wandered around lost and disappointed. I would feel very sad the summation of our country’s grub was a sweaty Subway, a busy Starbucks and a Martin’s newsagent. The venue itself was pretty good for us as exhibitors with free parking and relatively easy way-finding both inside and out. Our prayers were answered when a lovely lady (who worked for the organisers) bestowed a timely cuppa and a handmade chicken sandwich while we were building our stand. How they managed to get around the usual H&S mumbo-jumbo, I do not know.

I love days out of the office. This is probably because I spent the vast majority of my professional time behind a paper-strewn desk plugged into a computer or responding to telephone queries. I like seeing new places, meeting new people and eating new food. I’ve enjoyed everything from black tie silver service soirées in Oxbridge colleges to a fragrant curry with colleagues in Bedford.

By the time my first fleeting lunch break opportunity materialised, I was as much in need of mental respite as I was in need of sustenance. My role at events like these is to be a friendly face, subtle sales person, efficient organiser, neat personification of the company and general fountain of knowledge. Needless to say that this is pretty draining – both physically and mentally. So I wandered around in a bit of a daze for a slice of nutrition and a quiet place to sit. Unfortunately, neither was forthcoming. Eventually, I found myself loitering in the mammoth queue for Starbucks and was overjoyed (in my desperate event-addled state) to see a sandwich in their fridge which looked tasty and relatively healthy.

I decided to try a chicken sandwich with herb mayonnaise which looked promising. I find ready-made sandwiches to be a bit of a disappointment usually – soggy, salty and lacking in filling. But this was pretty good. It tasted fresh and had more flavour than your average packaged sandwich.

Shame that the same can’t be said for the Subway sarnie that I picked up in a dash the following day. Starbucks were completely out of sandwiches and Panini’s (what’s the plural of Panini? Paninies? Paninii?), which is generally a good sign, so I swung past Subway out of desperation. It was not good.

Lunchtime Snack-shot

Around Christmas time, I did a week of lunch related articles documenting what I, and my businessy friends, were lunching on come half-time in the working day. Today, I thought that I would share my view.

I'm sat in a sun-soaked Bristolian square with my commuter lunchbox full of homegrown lettuce salad. Its so warm that I've kicked off my shoes and am comfortably reclining while reading my trashy Metro

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Lunchables Follow Up

Well, the lunches continue to trickle in. Thanks to all of those that took the trouble to pick up their camera (or increasingly their mobile) and send me copies of their lunch. It's been an interesting week of culinary conversations. These have partly centred around my colleagues bemusement surrounding my lunch-time photo habit which has sparked questions and giggles.

Today I've been sent a rather belated photo by the boy.

Monday's Lunch for the Boy: mixed salad (from salad bar) and a jacket potato

Location: Power Station, South West

Price: 94p

The Boy is always singing the praises of his work canteen. He works in a power station (just call him Homer) and, understandably, it's miles from anywhere so his employer provides the whole site with food at a cut-rate price. One of his favourites is a medium sized salad box from an abundant salad bar which costs only 51p. Bargain!

Lunchables Day 5 - Suburban lunchbox

A sneaky peek into the lunchbox of a friend of mine who's a Marketing Assistant in Farnham (I think... though it might be another F-town...)

Friday's Lunch for MC: sandwich, banana (non-doodled variety), kettle chips and chocolate.
Location: Office
Cost: ?

'I usually have sandwich fillers or leftover meat from previous meals with chutney or mayo.' says he. 'Today I'm having my usual combo of sandwich, fruit, crisps and something chocolately. I would like to have some salad in my sandwich too but we only seem to have mixed rocket salad which isn't sandwichy enough in my opinion - more crunch please!'

I'm all for floppy salad personally but I guess a little iceberg doesn't go a miss now and again!

Lunchables Day 5 - Salad!

Friday's lunch: baby spinach salad with peppers, tomatoes and cheese
Location: UK office
Cost: less than £1 all in. Bargain!

And so my week of reporting comes to an end. To finish, I'm having a little salad prepared this morning (bar the dressing). The chopped tomato really adds to the satisfaction factor in this lunch. My trick is to keep a jar of home-made salad dressing in the fridge at work so that my salad doesn't go soggy. Easy!

Lunchables Day 3 - Local Government

To make up for my lack of lunch and therefore lack of posting, I thought I would give you a snapshot of local government cuisine. A friend works in the transport department of our home towns council offices and here she guides us through (with very helpful annotations) her lunch today.

Thank you, little Miss LG!

Lunchables Day 3 - Famished

If you're waiting for an update on what I've eaten today, I'm afraid you might be waiting awhile... The Boy really won't be pleased with me but I haven't actually had lunch so far today. I've been caught up in meetings then travelling then more meetings and I've had no time or opportunity to eat. Terrible. My sustenance so far today has been in the form of a box of carrot sticks.

It seems that skipping lunch is becoming a depressingly common trend.

Lunchables Day 2 - Posh sarnies

Tuesday's Lunch: Tasty sandwiches from our local deli, Hampers
Location: MD's home in a cute Cotswold cottage
Cost: Free! Yay! The wonder of expenses....

Today, I got a treat... I organised a big (scary) meeting with some important clients and for that I got to order some delicious baguettes and sandwiches. I had a one with smoked salmon, dill sauce, lemon juice and black pepper and another with brie, bacon and chilli jam. Very tasty!

Lunchables Day 1 - Doodl'nana

Who says romance is dead!? Me? Well, woops. I've just had a very cute BBM (Blackberry Messenger, don't you know) message from a friend of mine who's opened his lunchbox to find his girlfriend has doodled all over his lunch banana. Sounds dodgy, photo's prove it's kosher.


(Unzip me, baby)

Lunchables Day 1 - Falafel & Houmous Pitta

Monday's Lunch: Falafel, Houmous and baby spinach filled brown pitta bread with a few herby Queen olives and whole cherry tomatoes on the side
Location: UK Office
Cost: £1.64 when totted up... bargain!

I like things that are healthy and tasty. It just so happens that this is pretty good for both. Falafel can be easily bought from most supermarkets now. They're good value, healthy and a good source of fibre. A good option if you're vegetarian! Serve in a warmed pitta bread (so that it opens up) with baby spinach smothered in houmous for moisture. The olives were a real treat; going cheap on the deli counter at Sainsbury's so I couldn't resist. A little salty but tasty nether the less.

Fun on the 9 - 5

These days it's all about the 9 'til 5. I was very lucky to buck the trend set my many of peers by starting my graduate career only a week after my graduation ceremony. When I'm in the UK office - which seems to be about 50% of my time on average at the moment - I am based in the deepest Cotswolds working from a converted stables on a farm in a teensy hamlet. This is very different to the working environments I've experienced in the past. It's rural! There isn't a sandwich shop just the road where I can grab a roll when I forget my roll or a corner shop to pop to when I get a handy bar of chocolate. It's all very strange!

The world of business is getting busier, more competitive. There's more cost-cutting involved due to the infamous credit crunch so with jobs under threat and time at a premium, employees are working crazier and crazier hours. We continue to burn the candle at both ends; we don't want to compromise on our evening activities but we're having to get up earlier to satisfy our employers expectations. We skip breakfast in haste, grab a skinny latte during rush hour and sweat it out until lunchtime. We deserve a break! Don't work through it! Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day but lunch is a little salvation from the working day.

Now, with my working location, I can't get away with running out the door five minutes late only to grab a quick sandwich somewhere in town when the time comes. I have to be prepared. And it's annoying. But it got me thinking... how do we keep the 9 - 5 grind interesting? Food can improve a miserable day. What do you eat? And where? I'm wondering how many people eat at their desks or just skip a lunchbreak altogether.

So next week, you can expect a picture a day of my office lunches to inspire (I hope!).