California Lunch Bowl

“While writing this book, I finally ventured to California, and it became a new “happy place” for me,” says Allison Day author of Modern Lunch: +100 Recipes for Assembling the New Midday Meal. “Gjusta, a bakery and restaurant in Venice Beach, California, has a grain bowl that played with temperature, texture, and flavor in a way I’d never experienced before and needed to recreate immediately upon my return home. The soft egg in this bowl, like the one I enjoyed at Gjusta, marries with the lightest, clearest dressing for an expression of modern healthy eating that I believe anyone can get behind.”

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California Lunch Bowl

Course Salad
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 2 servings
Author Allison Day, author of Modern Lunch: +100 Recipes for Assembling the New Midday Meal

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice or quinoa preferably warm
  • 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
  • ¼ bulb fennel shaved
  • 1 avocado halved, peeled, and sliced
  • 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp minced fresh red Thai chili
  • 2 Tbsp dukkah
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

  • For the poached eggs, fill a small skillet two-thirds full of water.
  • Add the white vinegar, bring the water to a boil, and crack in the eggs. Immediately remove from the heat and cover for 7 minutes. If you are taking this to go, use a hard-boiled egg instead of a poached egg.

To assemble:

  • To serving bowls, add the rice, romaine, fennel, and avocado.
  • Season with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and chili.
  • Top with the dukkah and cilantro.
  • Remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon, draining as much water as possible; place on top of the rice. Toss, allowing the yolk to become part of the dressing, and enjoy.
  • If you are packing this to go, assemble your bowl in a container replacing the poached egg with a peeled hard-boiled egg. Seal and refrigerate until you are ready to take it with you, and keep it refrigerated at work or chilled with a cooler pack until you are ready to eat.
  • To keep avocado from browning, concentrate the olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the avocado flesh, and then sprinkle dukkah over top to cover. This assembly trick keeps oxidation to a minimum.

Notes

Excerpted from Modern Lunch: +100 Recipes for Assembling the New Midday Meal by Allison Day. Copyright © 2019 Allison Day. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.