“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: +100Recipes 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.”
Author Allison Day, author of Modern Lunch: +100 Recipes for Assembling the New Midday Meal
Ingredients
1Tbspdistilled white vinegar
2large eggs
2cupscooked brown rice or quinoapreferably warm
2cupsshredded romaine lettuce
¼bulb fennelshaved
1avocadohalved, peeled, and sliced
2Tbspextra-virgin olive oil
1Tbspbalsamic vinegar
Salt
Ground black pepper
1tspminced fresh red Thai chili
2Tbspdukkah
¼cupchopped 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.