The Working Lunch #45
An easy onion soup, caramelised onion & sausage toasted sandwich, miso squash & kale bowl, and a creamy coconut ramen - it's your weekly reminder to show your lunchbreak some love.
Hello again,
How are you doing?
I just want to say a quick thanks to
for her lunch treats last week. How great did that roasted cauliflower and those egg & potato tacos look?I’m not the only one who thought so. The egg tacos have been given another spin here on
.Have you tried any of the dishes? Hit reply and let me know or join TWL chat thread.
Before we get stuck in, I need to mention that two of this week’s lunches use caramelised onions. I did a big batch overnight in the slow cooker and although they were originally destined to embellish some scrummy sausages on Sunday, there was sufficient to tumble them down into a few lunches and a vegetable biryani. A worthwhile investment if you don’t mind the smell.
Rustle up…
Onion soup
7 or 8 minutes is all it took to upcycle some of the gorgeous caramelised onions into a quick onion soup.
Like French onion soup, but without the beef broth. But still a whole bowl of goodness and a warm hug on your lunch break when you want to rustle up something quick so you can sneak in an episode of The Bear while you eat.
Take 1/2 cup of the onions and heat them up in a pan.
Add 2 tsp plain flour and cook it out.
To that, add 1 tbsp of white wine (optional but optimal), 1/2 tsp of Marmite and 1/2 vegetable stock pot and about 250ml of boiling water.
Bring to the boil. Season.
Serve with a cheesy crouton or cheese on toast to dip. Perfection.
Just a sandwich…
Sausage & caramelised onion toasty
Sausages and caramelised onions form the backbone of this one. (I’ve reheated some leftover sausages, but you could cook them fresh).
Take two sturdy slices of bread - a sourdough works well here.
Butter the outside of the slices and stack up the hot sliced sausages, strong cheddar cheese, warm caramelised onions, American mustard and ketchup to form the sandwich filling.
Toast in a dry pan (it’s never going to fit in a sandwich toaster) until the sides are crisp and toasted and the cheese oozes out.
Make ahead…
Miso squash & kale bowl
I had every intention of following this recipe [Pumpkin with miso, kale & feta | Delicious]. Honestly, I did. But it kinda lost me at the ‘massage the kale’ bit.
So instead, it all went into the oven — except the cheese.
I made a miso marinade/dressing using miso, oil and mirin and roasted the butternut squash in that.
Then added the kale, sliced onion and pumpkin seeds for the final 10 minutes of cooking.
I made this the night before then reheated it the next day for lunch with fresh feta-style cheese crumbled atop.
If you’re doing this, maybe keep the pumpkin seeds out as they go chewy when they’re reheated.
The miso on the squash is truly delicious 👌🏻 — stay tuned for a recycle in the next lunch.
Rustle up…
Cheat’s creamy curry ramen with miso squash & kale
Take one pack of instant curry noodles and pimp up the broth with some creamed coconut, fresh ginger and red chilli. Add to that the reheated miso squash & kale from yesterday and a good drizzle of ketjap manis to serve.
I think this turned out pretty well!
Why only four meals?
I know, most people work 5 days a week, I do too. It’s nice to wing it one day a week. Or get even more organised with some meal prep. Minimal effort for maximum lunch; batch cook for a few days in advance so it’s ready when you are.
See you next week, lunch buddies
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Omg these look so delish. I actually DID have leftover sausages and onions and I made a sausage, onion, rocket and cheese wrap with some onion relish I found in the back of the fridge, so thanks for the inspo. (That soup also looks epic and is on my must-try list.)
A couple of people have messaged me to say they’d done a sausage, onion and cheese sandwich. Onion relish is a good option! I love caramelised red onion chutney, it’s really versatile.