Food is friend and foe of every freelancer, a companion and a constant distraction.
Until relatively recently I worked mostly from home, my desk within two metres of the fridge. With food seldom out of my eyeline, I’d distract myself from looming deadlines and a lack of human interaction by grazing my way through its contents, and making just one more cup of tea.
My weakness for chocolate Hobnobs aside, I ate quite well most of the time. Flexible hours meant I could pop round to Lidl at any time of the day to feed whatever craving took hold, or jump up and down from my desk to stir a one-pot wonder for dinner.
But on particularly busy days routine would go out the window, and I’d often emerge out of deadline hell at four in the afternoon, still in my pyjamas with only a cup of coffee past my lips.
A few days a week I’d make my way into the newsroom for breaking news shifts, armed with several lunchboxes full of leftovers to get me through the day. With 6am starts or 10pm finishes, two meals might have to be guzzled over a keyboard and I quickly learned coming prepared was vital for eating well (or at all on a busy news day).
As hot-deskers, the first few minutes of every online journalist’s shift is spent shaking crumbs from a colleague’s last meal out of the keyboard, or wiping yogurt crusts off a sticky mouse.
But three weeks ago I left all that behind to start a new role in the features department, and I now have my very own desk. It’s still covered in dribbles, but at least they are mine alone.
One of my failsafe recipes is for sweet potato, feta and bacon salad - I always make extra but it’s so scrumptious the leftovers seldom survive long enough to make it into next day’s lunchbox. It may have some green bits but be under no illusions; with all that cheese and bacon and delicious sweet-and-saltiness, it is definitely not for dieters.
Sweet potato, feta and bacon salad
Ingredients
One large sweet potato
Olive oil
Four garlic cloves
Baby tomatoes
Rocket, spinach or other baby leaves
Half a block of feta
Walnuts or hazel nuts
Packet of cubed pancetta or two chopped smoked rashers
Balsamic vinegar
Pepper
Pinch of dried herbs (any sort will do)
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
Method Preheat the oven to 180C, and heat a glug of olive oil in a roasting dish. Dice the sweet potato into one-inch cubes (you can keep the skin on to save time, and it actually tastes good too), season and add to the dish with the whole, unpeeled garlic cloves. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes. Half-way through cooking time, shake the potatoes around in the dish to prevent them from sticking or burning, and remove the garlic cloves.
Meanwhile, slice the tomatoes in half, wash the leaves, and fry the pancetta for about 10 minutes in a pan.
When the garlic is cool enough to handle, remove the skins and mash in a bowl with the back of a spoon. Add the herbs, mustard, honey, pepper, about 4 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar to the bowl and mix well.
Place the leaves and tomatoes on individual plates or large bowls, followed by the hot cooked sweet potatoes, bacon and nuts (toasted if you have time). Crumble the feta over the top (it’ll melt a bit into the potatoes), and drizzle the dressing generously over everything. And serve! Mmmm…
