Lunchbox Food

Years ago, Amanda Hesser devoted a column of the (old format) food section of the New York Times Magazine to an airplane-appropriate menu that was still Hesser-approved. It was a little fussy for me, if I recall, but I DO recall is the point.

Even more years ago, there was a scene in Hannibal where Lecter is on a plane, and he has carefully packed his own carefully composed meal because airplane food is clearly not going to cut it for someone with his palate, and then he winds up sitting next to some little brat who, like, sneezes all over it or something and he gives him the whole thing. (Don’t worry, he hadn’t prepared soylent green for himself or anything. It was probably a comte and some foie gras or something.)

Here is what I think about eating when you’re traveling: do it as often as possible, and lower your standards. I don’t mean once you’ve reached your destination, just while you’re on the plane/train/automobile. If you have ever found yourself stuck on a stalled Amtrak train between New Haven and Bridgeport, or forced to spend the night in Rome’s Fiumicino airport, you understand the importance of NOT being hungry for those hours of imprisonment. And if that means resigning yourself to a crappy sandwich from Au Bon Pain for dinner, then so be it. And have a cookie while you’re at it. And a bag of mixed nuts. Avoid the microwaved pizza on Amtrak if you can, though.

My point is that while I like the idea of packing myself a little lunch when I’m about to board a plane, it’s just not going to happen. There are other things I need to worry about, like making sure my passport isn’t going to expire before I get back into the country and that I didn’t forget my Zyrtec. There will be food available somewhere, it will be crappy, and I will buy it and eat it. I will be marginally cranky because it was mediocre but not unmanageably grumpy because I’m starving and passed up my last chance for 2,000 miles to acquire sustenance. Lesser of two evils.

That said: I work in midtown, which is the land of inedible cafeterias and $12 lunch specials. $12 is not a bad deal for a sitdown lunch with table service, but one cannot do that every day when one is keeping an eye on one’s bank account. Plus I have all these vegetables in my fridge that need to be cooked. And it turns out that the requirements for a decent make-your-own airplane meal are about the same as for a brown bag lunch. (Although my lunchbag is an insulated fabric one from Cascade Lemonade‘s shop on Etsy.)

And so (longest recipe intro ever) we turn to Orangette’s Kale and Cheddar Frittata with French-Style Carrot Salad. And what a coincidence! I have kale, I have carrots. I have a shallot. I was strangely out of cheddar (?!) but that was rectified easily enough.

First the salad. Carrots, Cuisinart, grating disc…

…and voila! Dress with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and a little minced garlic.

And then we move on to the main dish. Cut the stems out of the kale and slice the leaves into ribbons.

Cook the minced shallot in olive oil for a few minutes, just until it’s soft.

Add the kale, with a little more olive oil and some salt. Stir it all up, and then cover and let cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally

until it’s all properly wilty and cooked through.

While that’s taking care of itself, beat up some eggs.

Grate in some cheddar, and then mix in the kale/shallot mixture. (A large ball whisk is much better for this sort of thing than the little whisk I usually use–thanks, J., for that.)

Pour the eggy mixture back in the skillet and cook over very low heat until it’s nearly cooked through.

Finish it off under the broiler.

Orangette notes that this is a very thin frittata, and indeed it is much thinner than the ones I usually make. But she also claims that it serves 2 people for dinner, and even I was not hungry enough for an entire half. So we got lunch at work the next day, plus an extra serving in the fridge to boot.

Maybe if I hadn’t had the English muffin alongside? But what are eggs without an English muffin? Isn’t that why we eat eggs?