MTT: Breakfast Salad

Lunch is my nemesis. That might seem a little dramatic to say, but when you work from home and spend your days ping-ponging between marmite on toast, avocado on toast and last night’s leftover sausages you’ll know what I mean. Have you ever tried re-heating day-old macaroni cheese? Urgh.

That’s probably the thing I miss most about working from an office: the choice of a lunch. Whether it’s the delightful pick of sandwiches at Pret, a meal deal at Boots, a naughty Wagamamas takeaway… I have none of that here.

Well, I do, but it would involve getting in the car and driving for five minutes and I wouldn’t want to interrupt my constant refreshing of Facebook to do that, would I?

That’s the other thing… time. With time so limited I don’t want to spend hours out of my day cooking a quick lunch that I’ll only eat at my desk, so really for maximum convenience and enjoyment factor they should really be prepared in 15 minutes or less. So you could say that my lunches are a bit of a challenge, which is why more often than not I just stick something on a piece of toast and call it a day.

But to save me from sourdough-related scurvy I’ve started coming up with a repertoire of dishes I can throw together easily. Preferably refined carb free to make up for the cinnamon and raisin bagel I invariably throw in my mouth around breakfast time, and full of green stuff for health etc (whatever…).

The Breakfast Salad was born of this need for a speedy and healthy lunch. It’s basically a combination of my favourite things on leaves – bacon, avo, tomato, fried egg – and if you leave the egg all yolky as I like to you’ll find there’s no need for an extra dressing. The protein in this leaves you feeling full for ages and it’s salad so you know you’re doing yourself some good.

Use whichever leaves you fancy, I always buy mine pre-prepared because I’d rather spend an extra 50p than an extra five minutes over the sink washing salad.

The Breakfast Salad

¼ bag of prepared salad
½ an avocado
Handful of cherry tomatoes
3 bacon rashers
A free-range egg
Salt and pepper

1. Chop your bacon (with scissors, over the pan for ease) in bitesize pieces and fry over a med-high heat until crispy and brown.
2. While you’re waiting for that to cook, chop and assemble your salad, avocado and tomato.
3. When the bacon is cooked add to the salad and pop an egg in the frying pan – use the bacon fat to cook it. Cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on how runny you like your yolk.
4. Serve on top of the salad, season with salt and pepper and enjoy at your desk, like me!