Every week we take a peek inside the lunches of the luckiest kids in Brooklyn. Read on, suppress your jealousy, and get a little brown bag inspiration.
Today's wheat berry salad almost didn't happen -- when I read the cooking instructions on the side of the winter wheat berries package, they said the berries needed to be cooked for 2 to 5 hours. That's quite a range. Still, I forged ahead, convinced that no grain (that I would want to eat) would take 5 hours to cook. Turns out, I was right. Wheat berries take about 90 minutes, simmered in lots of salted water.
You may have noticed that I'm on a grain salad kick. They're healthy, blah, blah, but the overriding practical reason is that while the grains simmer, I can cook a bunch of other food for weeknight dinners. The wheat berries simmered as I made this soup, these beans, and this pie. I also roasted some butternut squash for the berries, folding the two together, along with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and leftover bacon -- which I wouldn't say was the most thoughtful addition to the salad, but when has bacon ever harmed a dish? This morning, after spooning the salad into containers, I topped it with chopped almonds, crumbled goat cheese, and a few slices of salumi. For dessert: clementines and chocolate chip cookies.
What's in your lunch today? See some of the twins' past lunches.
Written by: Amanda Hesser
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4 Comments
Wheat, Triticale, Buckwheat, Barley, Sesame Seeds), but now I buy my own grains and make different mixes. Easy-peasy, no soaking either, just cook them as though they were rice.
Of course, that doesn't leave you as much time to do all that other cooking. ;)
I've been using mine since I was in my teens (much longer than I'll admit to). I don't know what I'd do without the thing -- set it and forget it at its best. ;)
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