Today I prepped and cooked lunch – yes COOKED – during my workday (which was very busy) in between meetings in about 20-25 minutes and amazed myself.

I thought up the idea this morning as my husband complained of how small the salmon portions are from Amazon Fresh – so I thought to myself: He has a point – maybe they’d be better as lunch instead of dinner. I also perhaps felt guilty about the indulgent massive burger and onion rings I had last night from Bareburger simply because I gave into my craving after taking a walk outdoors and breathing in a whiff of someone’s grilling.

In any case, my own success with this lunch has now inspired me to perhaps make this less of an anomaly and to share how it can be done! Here’s how I did it:

• I turned on the oven to 425 degrees to preheat
• While it was preheating, I lightly oiled the bottom of my oval Staub and then placed the pre-cut salmon filets in there
• I rubbed some olive oil onto the salmon and seasoned it with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and dill. I let the salmon sit out like this.
• I took out a small pan and dumped in half a cup of farro with 3/4 cup chicken broth, brought it to a boil and then lowered it to simmer to cover and put a timer on for 20 min
• Meanwhile I chopped up 2 small radishes, a tiny bit of fennel, and some butter lettuce (rinsed the lettuce quickly) and threw it all into a big salad bowl. *Salad inspired by executive chef of Salesforce – I recently watched a video on health and well-being and the chef there made this salad! A bit fancier than mine but I think I got the main gist of it*
• By now the oven was preheated so I put in the salmon. Timer for 11 minutes.
• I mixed in 1 tbsp of Milanese Gremolata Olive Oil from Saratoga Olive Oil Co. (my favorite olive oil place!), fresh lemon juice from about half a wedge of lemon, and some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix mix mix and done.
• Sat back at my desk while I waited for the timers to go off.
• Timer #1 goes off for the salmon. I take off my necklace because the oven heat makes jewelry burn on my skin, and I take the salmon out. Perfection. Drizzle the juice from the other half of the lemon wedge onto the salmon.
• I plate the salad and the salmon, the ringer for the farro goes off shortly after that so I sprinkle the farro onto my salad

And just like that, lunch is done. Fresh, fast, and absolutely delicious. Yes, I ate it in front of my desk since I had to get back to work. But it was so worth it!