This may sound strange, but I have never had an office based job which involves having to go out and buy my own lunch. I have always worked in the food industry so my lunches have always been provided for.
There is an exception to that rule, dating back to my late teen years when I worked at both Harrods and Harvey Nichols during the summer sales. But I do seem to remember them both having a very nice staff canteen.
If I do happen to be out and about for lunch, I am always struck by how expensive it is to enjoy a half decent lunch. This is partly due to me being resentful for having to pay around about a fiver to eat a pre-made sandwich/salad and partly because I know I can make something far tastier and nutritious myself. I could however happily live on the Leon superfood salad if push came to shove.
My work as a cookery tutor enables me to eat my lunch at home, but if I am teaching in the afternoon then I often get to work early and eat there. Lunchtime for me is either about soup and bread (both home-made) or when out and about, a salad. Either way, both get made by using up whatever is left lurking in the fridge from the week before. I also cannot abide waste which is often a key feature of my cookery lessons.
I have created a roasted pork & aubergine noodle salad here which uses up leftover roast pork in a way that is so tasty you will be looking forward to your leftovers as much as you do your Sunday roast. This recipe is part of “Leftover Lunches”, a campaign by VOUCHER CODES to get us creative with what we eat at lunchtime. The challenge was to come up with a dish for under £10 which could see you through a couple of days worth of tasty lunchtime treats.
My leftovers salad will happily see you through two generous days worth of salad munching and the joy of using pork shoulder meat is that it does not dry out and it is much cheaper to buy and roast than a pork loin. I also chose a pork shoulder from our excellent local butcher, that was still on the bone which kept the meat beautifully tender and soft after spending 4 and 1/2 hours cooking gently in the oven.
This is what the salad for 2 days cost to make, for two very generous portions:
Leftover pork meat-£5
2 nests of dried egg noodles -35p
1 aubergine-75p
1/2 bag beansprouts-40p
1 red chilli-15p
4 spring onions-40p
ginger-10p
Coriander-80p
Soy Sauce-10p
Gran Luchito smoked Mexican chilli honey-15p
Sesame oil-10p
Sunflower oil-5p
Balsamic vinegar-20p
1 Lime-30p
Total cost £8.85
*DISCLOSURE*
Voucher Codes commissioned me to create a recipe for their #LeftoverLunches campaign. I was paid for my time and the ingredients used to create this recipe.
Roasted pork & aubergine noodle salad with ginger dressing
Ingredients
- For the salad 🙂
- Leftover roast pork chopped up roughly
- 350 g Cooked noodles
- 1 Aubergine
- 1 tsp -1tsp Gran Luchito smoked chilli honey or 1 tsp honey and some red chilli flakes
- -Sunflower oil for roasting the aubergine
- 1/2 packet Beansprouts
- 1 bunch Coriander roughly chopped
- For the ginger dressing 🙂
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 3 tbsp Sunflower/groundnut oil
- 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 Red chilli finely chopped
- 4 Spring onions finely sliced
- 1 inch Ginger peeled and grated
- 1/2 Lime zest & juice
Instructions
-
For the salad 🙂
-
Pre-cook the noodles and run them under cold water to cool,
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Chop the aubergine into long chunks, coat them in oil and roast in a pre-heated oven (200 degrees) for 30 minutes,
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Drizzle over the honey and some salt when the aubergine is cooked and still warm,
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Place the cold noodles into a mixing bowl and coat with the ginger dressing (see below) the night before you want to eat your salad. Add the other ingredients in the morning before work.
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For the dressing 🙂
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Place all the ingredients for the ginger dressing into a jug and mix thoroughly,
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Add the dressing to the cold noodles and leave them to marinate over night before you add the remaining salad ingredients.
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For the finished salad 🙂
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Once the noodles have been marinated in the dressing overnight, add in your chopped up leftover roast pork, roasted aubergines, bean sprouts and chopped coriander. Only add in enough pork, aubergine & beansprouts for one lunch. Add in the remainders for day two of this salad. This will prevent the meat and veg from deteriorating in the dressing,
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Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed,
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Stir the salad and place into a container/lunchbox ready to take to work.
Recipe Notes
You could make up enough salad for 2 people and offer some to a friend. They could then return the flavour and make you lunch the next day!
That looks so good I am going to have to roast some pork in order to have leftovers!
You should Anna, cold pork is so good used in this salad, it’s worth roasting a joint just to enjoy it!
You know how I love all of these flavours. Leftovers or not, this looks and sounds amazing. I agree about the rip-off prices of takeaway sandwiches – and they are so cold too! Like you I am lucky to mainly eat at home for lunch or at work with my nutrition groups. Today it is black bean chilli with quinoa cooked right in and about a zillion vegetables in it, so I will sneak a bowl when it cools down 😉 And how good is the Gran Luchito’s stuff? Love it. Love this recipe.
Thanks Kellie, I know the Gran Luchito brand is the best thing I have tried i ages. It really works so well with the aubergine. I love this salad, the dressing is perfect for all Chinese style salads, so tasty!
Pork is a meat I very rarely cook as a roast as I find it a bit boring but this salad sounds so good it makes me want to get some pork to roast just so I can use the leftovers!
You really won’t find pork boring here, all the flavours will bring it’s lovely flavour out, I hope you try it!
This looks so delicious Laura. I love using leftover meat in noodle dishes and still have at least one, maybe two pork shoulder joints from our own pigs in the freezer. I was going to slow cook them, pulled pork style and may have to do it soon to try this.
Oh you are lucky to have a supply of your very own pork meat. I think this is a perfect recipe for it, after you have enjoyed your slow roasted pulled pork. Another big favourite of mine!
Another utterly delicious meal 🙂
Very kind of you jude!
This looks absolutely delicious. Next time we have roast pork, I’m taking this to work in my lunchbox!
Oh good news Vanesther, enjoy it when you do!
Hi Laura. These (without the meat) are exactly my kind of flavours and the best bit about this sort of recipe is that it tastes even better and still light and fresh the next day xx
Mmmmm this looks really really good Laura!!! I also love the pretty plate you’ve dished it up on 🙂
This sounds so delicious! If that was my packed lunch, I would find it hard to wait until lunchtime to eat it 🙂 x
A lovely looking salad packed with flavours.
I used to work in Harrods and they did have a very good staff canteen. Terrible coffee however.
Don’t remember the coffee luckily!