Seasonal Ploughman’s Lunch
The Mindful Kitchen by L.M. Browning
Seasonal. Mindful. Delicious.
Many times the simplest foods are the most delectable. The first recipe we will feature in “Mindful Kitchen” has no recipe. (Very minimalist of us if you think about it.) The ploughman’s lunch is a dish with a recipe dictated by season and availability. It is an English meal traditionally composed of farm cheese, a pickled item, apples, boiled eggs, ham, and even a pint of beer is often found in the mix. In a modern return to the simplicity of ingredients, the ploughman’s lunch is the dish that allows you to indulge in seasonal delights. Celebrate the freshest fruits and vegetables alongside a couple of pickled items from last year’s harvest and some organic, free-range charcuterie. Serve it on large plates—family style—with coffee, a pot of aromatic tea, a bottle of wine, or a few pints of beer and there you have it!
A Spring Plate
A Dozen Halved Fresh Figs
English Cheddar Cheese
Halved Hardboiled Eggs *10-12 mins so yoke is slightly soft
Blanched Asparagus Drizzled with Olive Oil and a pinch of Kosher Salt
Spring Onions
Sliced Raw Fennel with Olive Oil
Drizzle Sliced French Baguette
Serve with a Dry White Wine
Summer Plate
Prosciutto
Cantaloupe Melon
Goat Cheese
Grapes
Pita Chips
Edamame
Serve with Crisp, Fruity White Wine
Autumn Plate
Fig
Preserve Milk Crackers
Gruyere
Sliced Genoa
Halved Hardboiled Eggs
Oil Cured Olive of your Choice
Apples Pears
Serve with Mulled Apple Cider or Pitcher of Pale Ale
Winter Plate
Wedge of Maytag Blue Cheese
Dried Fruits (dates, cranberries, cherries, apricots)
Sliced French Baguette Oil Cured Olive of your Choice
Spiced Nuts
Gingerbread
Serve with a Bold Red Wine or spiced, hot chocolate
L.M. Browning (they/them) is a two-spirited bestselling poet whose hybrid of introspective travel writing and visual art focuses on the alchemizing of trauma through active awe-seeking and a re-wilding of one’s life and self.
Over the last fifteen years, Les’ twenty-something intention to help “ensure the mainstream isn’t the only stream,” has taken shape in the form of the enduring indie platforms: Homebound Publications, Wayfarer Books,The Wayfarer Magazine & Navigator Graphics. Their own published works have received five Pushcart Prize nominations, two Foreword Review Book Awards, and the Nautilus Gold Medal for Poetry.
Recently Browning accepted a position on the State of Connecticut’s/NAMI’s Lived Experience Committee and received national certification as a Survivor of Suicide Attempt (SOSA), Group Peer Facilitator through the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Foundation in Los Angeles. They are a graduate of the University of London and Harvard University.
Les and their coydog, Kiva, divide their time between their home in the historic district of Taos, New Mexico and Wayfarer Farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.