MISO BUTTER SESAME NOODLES

wfh lunch just got better

Now that many of us are working from home, we’re all eating lunch at home a heck of a lot more too. And personally, I LOVE it. I would always prefer to make myself lunch over going to Pret for a hurried sarnie and a cup of average coffee. I find myself hustling through the morning, motivated by the idea of getting into the kitchen for a break, a proper sit down and a good meal.

I’ve always had pretty strong opinions about lunch time, especially in the professional kitchens I’ve worked in. I believe a team will produce its best work when they are well fed, and I’ve seen this to be true in kitchens around London. When a good team lunch is prioritised, everyone works harder in the morning, knowing they will get to sit down and have a proper break and then the afternoon runs more smoothly when everyone is feeling well sated and refreshed. I was very lucky to have this for most of my professional kitchen career. One of my first jobs in London, which I ended up doing on and off for 8 years, was as a baker at Meringue Girls. Early on we established a lunch routine whereby everyone would bring in £2 a day and the collective budget (£10) would buy lunch for the team of five. Now granted, this wasn’t the standard office set up, we had a kitchen at our disposal, and were positioned behind a flourishing market street with every ingredient you could hope to cook with. So each day, one of us (often me) would canvass opinion on what kind of lunch we fancied, then go out to buy the ingredients and return to cook a meal by 1pm, at which point we all stopped what we were doing and sat down at the table to enjoy the feast. The majority of these years were in the 2010s and while the budget was tight, we made it work at £2 per person, per day. I’m not sure that would quite work in today’s economy, but the premise is still a strong one.

I feel really lucky in the warehouse that, in addition to my six housemates, we also have a wonderful group of studio holders who work from our building too. They are a mix of painters, musicians, sculptors and artists of all kinds, who have studios on the top floor of our warehouse. On an average weekday there might be six or seven of us hard at work in various rooms, all hungry for a good meal come lunch time. So on days like this, we often eat together, one or two of us whipping up a quick and delicious meal for everyone to share. It’s such a welcome break to sit down around the table, share a meal and get off the laptop for half an hour, rather than a sad lonely lunch al desko.

beautiful Niamh around the warehouse

This week’s recipe is one such lunch, made by myself and Niamh Birch, a great friend and talented painter who has had a studio in our warehouse for the last couple of years. We also collaborated with Niamh on the table cloth and exhibited art for our Fall Supper in 2023, which you can see a lovely time lapse of here. Niamh and I were craving a noodle bowl and whipped this up from a few key ingredients that we always have on hand in the pantry. During the colder months, our lunches tend to look something like this, quick, warming, brothy and full of deep umami flavour.

Niamh's work

I hope this noodle bowl can brighten a lunch break for you too.

Sending love, Rosie x

MISO BUTTER SESAME NOODLES

In the time it take you to boil some eggs and noodles, you can have the rest of the prep done for this lunch and be sitting down for a good catchup with your housemates, spouse, kids or dog. If you make the sauce in a large metal bowl that can hold all your noodles, then it holds its heat and means you have less washing up to deal with at the end too. I’ve used chicken stock here but you could happily use vegetable, or even just hot water. Similarly the toppings are all optional, kimchi would be great in place of the sauerkraut, you could top with any protein you have lying around that needs using up, but in my opinion, the chilli oil is non negotiable.

Serves 4

For the sauce:

4 tbsp white miso paste

4 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar would work in a pinch)

100g unsalted butter, cubed

100ml hot chicken stock

For the rest:

600g noodles (I used straight to wok Udon that just needed reheating in boiling water)

4 eggs

To top:

A small bunch of spring onions, finely sliced

Sauerkraut

Chilli oil

Toasted sesame

1. Boil your eggs to your perfect level of doneness - for me this is jammy, not hard or soft. I put the eggs in the pan of cold water, set it over the heat and bring to the boil, then time exactly 4 minutes from the point of boiling.

2. Remove the eggs, run under cold water and when cool enough to handle, peel.

3. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl, whisking the hot chicken (or vegetable) stock in, until all the butter is melted and the sauce is at the desired level of sauciness - add more stock for a thinner sauce, less for a thicker one.

4. Cook the noodles as per the packet instructions, drain and then toss in the sauce.

5. Serve the noodles into bowls, with more sauce, topped with the egg, spring onions and all the toppings.

6. Slurp and enjoy.