When the Copenhagen-based chef David Zilber, 39, left town for a week last fall, his girlfriend and two-year-old son ate like royals. They wolfed down chicken meatballs and tilted back bowls of curry that Zilber, a former chef at Denmark’s Noma restaurant, had stockpiled ahead of time in the fridge. But you don’t have to be a professional chef to meal prep like one. We asked Zilber and two other Copenhagen-based cooks to each share a recipe that can be made ahead of time and served for a few weekday lunches. To qualify, the dishes had to last at least a week in the fridge and be transportable to an office desk.
Their recipes have two things in common. First, they all have the consistency of stew. “Anything that’s stewed together will get better over time,” says Zilber, who coauthored “The Noma Guide to Fermentation” with the chef René Redzepi. They also lend themselves to endless modification. The big-batch beans that Eva Hurtigkarl, the in-house chef at the Danish fashion label Ganni, makes are a shortcut to dips, salads and soups, she says. And Youra Kim, the owner of Propaganda, one of Copenhagen’s few Korean restaurants, recommends bulgogi (sliced and marinated beef), for its versatility: Her recipe works with a range of accompaniments, from white rice to spaghetti. With so many ways to iterate, each lunch can be distinct from the next without much added effort.
David Zilber’s Curry With Chicken Meatballs
This curry has been part of Zilber’s life in some form since high school. He picked up the recipe while working at Rain, an Asian restaurant in Toronto, and has been riffing on it ever since. This version was born out of necessity. “I’m desperately trying to keep my child, who can sometimes be a capricious eater, alive,” he says. Lately, chicken meatballs have done the trick.
1. To prepare the meatballs, beat the egg with a fork or whisk in a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients, save for the rice flour, and combine. Shape the mixture into small meatballs, about one-inch wide, and roll in a pan of rice flour. Set aside.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, sweat the onion, scallions, ginger, chile and garlic in coconut oil until fragrant. While the aromatics are cooking, bruise the lemongrass with the back of a knife and add it to the pot with the lime leaves and curry paste. Cook until the mixture begins to brown and stick to the bottom of the pot, then add water to loosen it. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and soy sauce, and bring the pot back up to a simmer. Add the eggplant and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. In another pan over medium-high heat, sear the meatballs in coconut oil, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. Remove the lemongrass and lime leaves from the curry and add the meatballs to cook for about five minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool before transferring to the fridge in a sealed container.
How to Serve
Early in the week, bring to work with a side of jasmine rice, the toppings of your choice (such as cilantro, bean sprouts, diced mango or roasted peanuts) and half a lime to squeeze over the top. Later in the week, use the curry to make a noodle soup. The night before you want to eat it (or the same day, if you’re working from home), take your desired portion of curry and combine with an equal amount of chicken stock in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil and adjust the seasoning with a few splashes of fish sauce and soy sauce. Roughly chop a head of medium-size bok choy and add it in. Serve with cooked vermicelli noodles, mint and Thai basil.
Eva Hurtigkarl’s Big-Batch Beans
Hurtigkarl, 35, is tasked with making plant-based lunches for around 100 Ganni employees each day. Big batches of cannellini beans are one of the many tricks that she employs. The beans are easy to prepare in bulk and, by making them from scratch, rather than opening a can, you can add more flavor during the cooking process. Hurtigkarl’s recipe calls for leek, celery and fennel scraps, but other aromatics will work, such as Parmesan rinds, rosemary and thyme.
Makes four servings
Ingredients:
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1 pound dry cannellini beans
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1 yellow onion, skin on, cut in half
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1 head of garlic, skin on, cut in half
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3 bay leaves, preferably fresh
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1 carrot
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5 parsley stems (or another herb)
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Tops of leek, celery or fennel
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3 tablespoons olive oil
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3 tablespoons salt
1. In a bowl, cover the beans with water by at least two inches. Soak for at least eight hours or overnight.
2. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans and add to a large pot with the aromatics. Cover with water and add olive oil and salt. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, skimming off the foam that rises to the surface. The beans are done when you can easily mash them between your fingers.
3. Leave the cooked beans in their broth and transfer them to the fridge in a sealed container.
How to Serve
Simply reheat the beans and eat them as they are. Or use an immersion blender to make a sauce with a portion of beans and their broth. Combine with more whole beans and finish with olive oil, lemon zest and grated Parmesan. Serve with bread. With more time, make a simple bean salad: Mince a red onion and mix with a spoonful of Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper and a handful of cooked beans. Whisk, adding olive oil until you have a thick dressing. Add dressing to whole beans, chopped dill and a vegetable, such as seared zucchini.
Youra Kim’s Bulk Bulgogi
Before Kim, 31, opened Propaganda in 2021, she was a university student like any other — dependent on care packages from her family. Every Saturday, her father would visit her in Seoul with a week’s worth of banchan: kimchi, dried squid and more. If she was lucky, there would be bulgogi, too. “It was a special treat,” she says. The marinated meat is ideal for rationing during a workweek or a college semester. Aside from pairing well with just about everything, it can be stored in the freezer for several weeks.
Note: This recipe calls for pre-sliced beef, available at many Asian supermarkets. If you can’t find one, ask a butcher to slice a steak into two-centimeter-wide cuts or place a steak in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to cut on your own.
Makes five servings
Ingredients:
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2 pounds sliced beef (sirloin, flank steak or boneless rib-eye)
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1 cup soy sauce
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1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (optional)
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¼ cup sugar
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1½ tablespoons honey
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¼ cup mirin (or dry white wine)
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6 garlic cloves
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3 tablespoons sesame oil
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2 tablespoons black pepper, ground
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1 pear or apple, blended
1. Pat the beef with kitchen towels to remove blood and place in a large mixing bowl.
2. To make the marinade, combine the remainder of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
3. Pour the marinade over the sliced beef and massage it with your hands until evenly coated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight or for at least six hours.
4. Divide the beef and marinade into five equal portions and store in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to three months.
How to Serve
Bulgogi “works with everything,” Kim says, including udon noodles and spaghetti. For a more traditional preparation, slice onion, carrot and scallion and mix them with the bulgogi and leftover marinade. Place a frying pan on high heat, then add the meat and vegetables. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring with chopsticks. Add mushrooms at the end with extra scallion and sesame seeds. Save any leftover marinade; it can be used to braise tofu or season vegetables while cooking. “You don’t have to think about anything else,” she says. “It’s going to come out perfectly.”
