The Three-Ingredient Lunch Superhero

As a defiant response to sad desk lunches, the Food52 team works to keep our midday meals both interesting and pretty. Each week, we'll be sharing our happiest desk lunches—and we want to see yours, too.

Today: Don't let your avocado sit on the counter alone while you go off to work. Jessie Snyder of Faring Well shows you how to whip up an avocado masterpiece while your morning coffee drips.

Carrying an avocado to work can be a recipe for disaster—especially when the avocado is ripe and your computer is heavy. Just thinking about the fate of the little fruit at the bottom of someone's bag makes me cringe. And then I discovered a simple, commute-friendly alternative: avocado dressing. I nearly jumped up and down with joy the first time I made it—not only does it taste amazing, but it's simple enough to make during your pre-work morning routine, and will make transporting lunch to work that much easier.

More: Kick your avocado up another notch with Green Goddess dressing.

Being a tahini girl, I hadn't considered much outside the sesame-based dressing realm. Then it happened: I placed an avocado into a mixing bowl and added in some freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I blended it into creamy green perfection with my immersion blender—slowly adding water to thin it out into a dressing. I tasted the green slurry, and BAM: I was hit in the face with a new favorite dressing! It’s so simple, almost too simple. But there you have it, a little avocado gift to us all—a simple, delicious dressing for every day. 

I like to prep this dressing (and my lunch) as my morning tea steeps. To make a salad base worthy of the simple dressing, I start off by layering brown rice, chickpeas, shaved asparagus, shaved carrots, sliced radishes, and sprouts—or whatever leftover veggies I have on hand—in an airtight container. I then place the avocado dressing in a separate bottle or jar so that the salad remains fresh.

Once you hit your lunch hour at work, douse the salad mix with your new best friend, deflect the envious stares from office mates, and enjoy!

Everyday Avocado Dressing

Serves 4

1 medium ripe avocado
Juice of large lemon or 2 small lemons
Salt and pepper, to taste

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

All photos by Jessie Snyder