Lunch, man. It’s a hard thing, lunch. Lunch club had a good run but it’s disbanded, so I’m back to either eating things at my desk or buying things around campus. I don’t like buying lunch, it’s a really quick way to piss through your money far too quickly, so I try to bring things in. Which is kind of difficult, if you choose to overthink lunch as I do. In theory I like the ’simple food’ so aestheticised and valorised by Jill Dupleix and countless food bloggers, finding their niche in the food writing world, but in practice I do not do food simply. If I liked ’simple food’ I’d bring in a sandwich and an apple and that would be that, but I can’t even do a sandwich simply. Further, I’ve thoroughly internalised a health imperative about lunch. I often skip dinner, or cook odd things, like brussels sprouts and buttered cabbage with a poached egg, that are not ‘real meals’ but make me happy at night, breakfast is fruit-oriented, I need to get a vegetable in there somewhere.
So I’ve been trying to make one or two not-simple, vegetable-centric things a week. And I’ve made Heidi’s miso salad, or as I will call it, coleslaw, almost every week for the past three weeks. It is practically perfect. Coleslaw is a great, robust desk lunch, because it can keep for a while, doesn’t wilt or turn awful, and it is a fine dressing conveyance. Heidi’s version is caramel-rich, sweetly oniony, filling and improves with time. The shallot slicing is a touch fiddly, but if you have a food processor to massacre the cabbage then you can’t complain. Do it. At your desk. Salad, that is. Not sexual intercourse. Though to each their own, I suppose.
Miso coleslaw
Serves 2-3. Via 101 Cookbooks
- 5-6 shallots, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp miso
- 1/2 - 1 tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp honey or agave
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- One baby cabbage or 1/2 a small cabbage
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- Bunch of chives, chopped
- Packet of tofu, firm or fried, cut into small pieces
Fry shallots in a splash of olive oil over medium heat with a little salt and pepper until dark. Set aside.
Halve the cabbage and thinly slice in a food processor. Whisk together the miso, mustard, honey, vinegar, olive and sesame oil in a large bowl. Put sliced cabbage, chives, onion and fried shallots in the bowl and turn to combine.
