I Need Exciting Lunch Ideas

ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Dinner SOS, test kitchen director and host Chris Morocco is joined by test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin to brainstorm ways to make lunch at home exciting for our caller Kaitlin.

Kaitlin and her husband are food scientists, and while they spend all day thinking about flavor, they’ve hit a wall when it comes to creativity with their work-from-home lunches. Chris enlists the help of Kendra, who has a lot to say about the art of a delicious yet efficient midday meal at home. Kendra loves to combine all the bits and bobs in her refrigerator to do something nice for herself in the middle of the day—a little bit of roast chicken here, a bit of leftover cooked grain here, and the last couple of spoonfuls of sauce.

Kendra’s first suggestion is this Salmon Niçoise Salad, which includes all the usual suspects of hard-boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, and blanched green beans, plus salmon fillets. The best part of a recipe like this is that the first day the components can live together as the salad, but the following days you can repurpose them. The eggs can become Egg Salad Tartines, the potatoes can transform into this Potato Salad with Mustard Sauce and Watercress, and the salmon is the perfect addition to these DIY Hand Rolls. Kendra recommends storing all the leftover ingredients in separate containers to keep them fresh and ready to repurpose.

Chris also wants Kaitlin to find love again with chickpeas (she admits she finds them to be very boring). He suggests this recipe for Herbed Chickpeas, which Kaitlin can throw on yogurt, crisp up and serve alongside some fried eggs, or throw them into a salad. Listen now to hear what Kaitlin makes for lunch and whether she’s able to transcend her lunchtime rut with the help of Chris and Kendra.