Making the Most of Brioche

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.

I started the school year with optimism and big plans to attack the daily lunch challenge with fresh ideas and renewed vigor. And just days into the school year, I was pulled away for an extended work-related trip. Sorry to leave you hanging!

This week, as I got back into the swing of things, I realized that one of my lunch strategies starts at the Greenmarket or the grocery store: I’ll become fixated on one enticing, new component and build lunches around it. Somehow, focusing on one part of the lunch makes the rest seems easier. 

This past weekend, I spotted brioche slider buns at Bread Alone’s Greenmarket stand. Sliders are an ideal size for third grade hands, and buttery brioche has just the right appeal -- to me at least. 

To start off the week, I slathered the buns with mayonnaise, crumbled some poached tuna on top, and layered in red peppers (that I’d simmered in lots of olive oil and finished with pounded anchovy and capers), and arugula. Kind of a pan bagnat, kind of a tuna sandwich, and kind of a pissaladière, all housed in a slider. 

My weekly cake -- this time Risa Jampel’s Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake With Apples, subbing almonds and pistachios for the walnuts, and skipping the chocolate -- made for a good, packable dessert. 

What's in your lunch today? See some of the twins' past lunches.