This post may end up being a sneak peek of my monthly favourites, because at least two of the new things I discovered last week were excellent enough to stop me in my tracks and make me update my ever-changing list of “things I love”. I can’t imagine these items will be bettered in time for my monthly favourites deadline, which this month is 25th February. (I post them on the last Tuesday of the month.)
The first thing might not be the sexiest of discoveries – in fact it’s probably up there with “orthopaedic inner soles” and “drain rods” in terms of glamour – but it is a notable discovery and a useful one and it has very quickly changed my lunchtime routine.
Grains.
I warned you it wasn’t a sexy discovery!
Would it help if I told you that these weren’t any old grains but Merchant Gourmet Glorious Grains with Red Rice & Quinoa? No? Alrighty then.
Listen, though: these tear-open pouches of ready-to-eat grains and pulses and what-not are the absolute bees-knees. I was already familiar with Merchant Gourmet’s puy lentils that they do in the pouch, and also their black dahl, and even the pre-cooked chestnuts that you can chop up and put in the Christmas stuffing or fry up with the Brussels sprouts along with some good quality bacon and lots of salt and pepper.
But grains? As a quick lunch, tossed with spring onions and chopped walnuts and little sliced pre-cooked sweet chilli beetroots and a great dressing? With a big fillet of smoked mackerel flaked in? And maybe some horseradish mixed with a little Greek yoghurt dolloped on top of that? How had I not thought of this before?!
It was actually one of the many suggestions that came at me via Instagram DM when I posted about my lack of variety and enthusiasm and inspiration when it comes to fast working lunches at home. (You can read that post here: I Need Lunch Ideas and Don’t Say Soup.)
The idea was to do a basic salad swap and it is a simple-yet-genius one: take out the salad leaves, which have no real benefit anyway and are just a humungous space-filler to make people think they’re actually eating something that’s more substantial than it really is, and replace with nutritious grains that are a great source of protein and fibre and make you actually full and satisfied. There’s still room for the leaves, of course, if you want them; it’s just that the grains turn a few simple ingredients into a more properly rounded meal.
And there are Jamaican-style grains and Korean-style grains and lentils with French tomatoey stuff and all manner of fancy-sounding versions that you can imagine will sit amazingly well alongside a juicy bit of chicken that’s been marinated the night before and chucked into the air-fryer, or underneath a grilled round of goat’s cheese that’s all melting and oozing down into the lovely grains.
I’m going to experiment and come back to you with three quick and easy lunch ideas using these Merchant Gourmet pouches. It’s my new challenge-to-self, because I am always in need of a challenge, what with the eons of spare time I always have.
You can find all of the Merchant Gourmet pouches here online – let me know if you already have any recipes I should try!
On with the second discovery. Or, should I say, rediscovery. It’s niche, but anyone with a very furry cat will thank me a million times over:
