Kelly Pochyba’s New Favourite Lunchbox Salad
Recipe for a salad of corn, green beans, and butter beans with pesto. Words and photos by Kelly Pochyba. Additional photo by Georgia Rudd.
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Welcome to Vittles Recipes! This summer we are featuring some of our favourite cooks as guest recipe writers. Our regular roster of columnists will start up again after a well-deserved break. This week’s guest writer is Kelly Pochyba. You can read our archive of cookery writing here.
Kelly Pochyba’s New Favourite Lunchbox Salad
Recipe for a salad of corn, green beans, and butter beans with pesto. Words and photos by Kelly Pochyba. Additional photo by Georgia Rudd.
Growing up, my mum never let me buy my lunch. She knew she could cook better, for cheaper. She would make my brother and I chicken liver pâté sandwiches with little containers of cornichons on the side. During the winter months, it was a thermos of Hungarian goulash and dumplings. When I had sports, my mum would wake up an hour earlier than she needed to so that she could shallow-fry fresh chicken schnitzels for my sandwiches. She taught me that even though we only have an hour for lunch, we should give it our attention.
Since my first job, I have brought my own lunch to work – without realising, I turned into my mum. Like her I go the extra mile, too, and have always made a few different things for my packed lunches: a main meal and two sides. Every day at that first job, my manager would ask ‘What’s for lunch today, Kelly?’ On the rare occasion I hadn’t brought anything, she would calmly ask if everything was OK.
I used to get annoyed about having to pack and clean three different containers each day (for my main and two sides) but during lockdown, I found my dream lunchbox. While I was travelling on empty buses into my ‘essential’ job, I began to exchange lunch photos with my friend E, who lived in New York at the time. I felt like I was back at school – but in a nice way. One day, she sent me pics of her new lunchbox, which contained three separate compartments. I immediately bought one too.
I have a different job now, and I eat lunch at home most days. But even though I am not commuting and have perfectly good plates, I still prefer to use my lunchbox – its separate compartments allow me to compose delicious triptychs. When trying to come up with things to eat, I set myself little challenges based on the food in the fridge that I need to use up (but I always allow myself to walk to the shops if I need a few extra ingredients). I try to balance protein, carbs, healthy fats, and fresh vegetables, and if it’s a hot day, I love to include a few pieces of really cold fruit (I know fruit is best eaten at room temperature for flavour, but I love a cold orange). But really, there are no rules, and choosing the three separate components keeps me excited.
Here is a recipe for a salad that I have been eating very frequently as the days have become warmer. I like to eat it with a soft-boiled egg on the side and a few strawberries or cherries. Or the other day I had it with a few pieces of comté on crackers instead of the egg, and I really loved that, too.
A salad of corn, green beans, and butter beans with pesto
Serves 4 (as a side dish) or 2–3 as a main meal (depending on how hungry you are)
Time 25 mins