Soba Noodle Bowls

I had a couple packages of soba noodles in different colors, and I thought it would be a good idea to cook them up in a ginger-citrus broth, with a lot of mushrooms and and bitter greens.  I sauteed scallions with garlic and ginger, shiitake and oyster mushrooms.  Then I tossed in a big bunch of broccoli rabe, and let it simmer in a mixture of wine, lime juice, and vegetable broth.  Everything went as planned, the noodles finished cooking right when the vegetables got tender, and in under half an hour I beautiful looking dinner.  Then I took the first bite, and disaster.  Everything was wrong:  too much ginger, too much lime, too much liquid overall, the mushrooms shrank down to nothing, and the bitterness of the broccoli rabe overpowered the rest of the dish.

Still the basic idea was a good one, so a week later, I tried again.  This time I used spinach in place of the broccoli rabe, subbed in portobellos for half the shiitakes, and changed all the proportions in the broth.  And this time the result was an actual, edible meal.  Recipe below:

SOBA NOODLE BOWLS

• Soba Noodles (8 oz)
• 10 oz spinach, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups mushrooms (potobello/shitake) chopped
• 5 scallions, chopped
• ½ inch piece of ginger, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice of half a lime
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• ½ cup of wine
• 2 tbs peanut oil

Cook the soba noodles according to package directions.

Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Sauté the scallions until tender. Add the garlic and ginger, and sauté until lightly browned and aromatic. Add the lime juice, soy sauce, and mushrooms, cook until the mushrooms are tender. Add the wine and spinach, cover the pot, and steam until the spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally.

Toss the noodles with the vegetable mixture, and serve with hot sauce (Vietnamese chili garlic sauce) and lime wedges.

We Wish You a Merry .... Easter?

I was in Wegman's yesterday.  I don't go there often, because there isn't one very nearby, but some errands took me in that direction, so I decided to swing by and pick up some good bread, and other goodies.  

I went down the soy milk aisle with the hope of finding a flavor other than plain/vanilla/chocolate, and was rewarded with...... Christmas flavors!!!!!  I can't figure out why they'd still be on the shelf.  I suppose Wegman's had leftovers, and decided to just leave them on the shelf. 

 So now in my fridge, I have Peppermint Chocolate and Holly Nog!  I'd never had either before, so I'm really excited anyway.  I tried Holly Nog today, and it was surprisingly good - not as thick or rich as traditional eggnog, but it has a similar creaminess, and a nice nutmeg-y spice.

It's completely the wrong season, but I'm really enjoying this anyway.

Pot Pie

The first time I decided to try the cauliflower pot pie from Veganomicon was for a mid-week supper.  Not the best decision.  The dish itself is amazingly good, but it took about 2 hours start to finish.  Fortunately, that night I was in the mood for a project, but from now on I think I'll save this for weekends.  

The sauce is labor intensive in the sense that you have to stand over it and whisk the whole time.  But it comes out deliciously thick and rich (although not exactly pretty in the pot).

Next come the vegetables, which are sauteed together.  Leeks give the vegetables a really nice flavor - oniony, but not overpoweringly so.

While the vegetables were cooking away, I rolled out the pie crust, which came together incredibly quick.  At this  point, I diverged from the recipe, which calls for cutting the dough into little biscuits to place on top of the filling in a dutch oven.  

I wanted a traditional pot pie, so I mixed the sauce together with the vegetables and poured it all into a pie plate.  Then I covered the whole thing with a circle of crust, crimped the edges, and poked some vents in the top with a fork.

The cooking time didn't change with the variation, and pie came out crisp and golden, with a tender, creamy, vegetable filling.  

Here's the pie:

And a slice:

The Big Kahuna gave this a 9.5/10.  High praise.

BONUS:  Herb Scalloped Potatoes

I can't believe it took me so long to make these, even after hearing everyone rave about how good they are.  Yes, they take a long time in the oven, but the actual hands-on time is minimal.  

They are the perfect side to just about any cold-weather meal, but a warning - no matter how much you make, you will NOT have leftovers.

A rare 10/10 from the Big Kahuna, and I think he would have given them an 11 if that were allowed.

Potato and Mushroom Blintzes

Another one from the Veganomicon.  i made these for a weeknight dinner, and they came together really quickly, though I did make the crepe batter the night before.

The crepes were incredibly simple, just throw all the ingredients in the blender, blend, and then refrigerate.  A quick stir the next day, and I was good to go.  I was able to cook up a big stack of crepes in about 10 minutes.  

The filling is a very comfort-foody mix of mashed potatoes and mushrooms.  I boiled the potatoes while cooking the crepes, so by the time I was done, the potatoes were ready to mash.  

Filling the crepes was fun.  A couple of spoonfuls of potato mixture, roll it up, repeat.  Despite the heavy filling, the crepes held together well, and I only had one ripped crepe.  

The final step is to brown the blintzes in a skillet.  Instead of doing this all at once, I just did a few at a time, as the Big Kahuna and I were ready to eat them.  

To make the meal a little fancier, I served the blintzes with a mustard sauce and a side of bok choi.  I cheated with the bok choi, and steamed it in the microwave while everything else was cooking.  It was the mustard sauce that really made the meal. Of course, I didn't actually have about half the required ingredients, so I bastardized the recipe with substitutions.  The sauce tasted amazing, but I thought it was a bit too thick.  I had to spread it, instead of just pour it. But I can't blame the recipe, because I didn't really follow it.  

(I had a picture of the blintzes with sauce, but blogger hates me, and won't let me post it.)

The Big Kahuna, who judges all meals based on the sauce, gave this one 9/10.  

Given how easy this was, I'm excited now to try out other dinner crepes.  

Not Food.

This is Daphne.  Yes, she's a hotdog, but not the kind that goes on a bun.  She helps keep my kitchen floor clean.

Nada's Mujadara

I love mujadara. It is one of my standby quick weeknight go-to meals. But whenever I see a mujadara recipe in a cookbook, I'm always a little bit shocked. So many steps! So many SPICES!!!  It makes me wonder if the authors are purposefully complicating things.  

I imagine there are many "authentic" versions of mujadara out there, but I learned mine from my mother-in-law, so I know it's authentic, and it has the added benefit of being as simple as can be.  Just 5 ingredients, and only one spice - Salt.  Everything is thrown into the pot, and cooked into a warm, comforting mush.  

I think the key difference is that my mujadara is more akin to a polenta, than a curry.

To balance out the salty, creamy, mushiness of the mujadara, I like to top it with a salad of chopped tomato, cucumber, and sometimes pepper, that is drowned vinegar and tossed with mashed garlic.  The vinegar gives the salad a bit of a "bite" that contrasts nicely with the smoothness of the mujadara.

So here's the dish - the ultimate comfort food:

Chickpea Noodle Soup

A recipe from the Veganomicon.  Leave it to Isa and Terry to take such a quintessentially American comfort food as Chicken Noodle Soup, and make it not only vegetarian, but also Asian.  But this soup is even more soothing and delicious than the original.

This is a great soup for a weeknight dinner.  It's just a few simple steps, and it comes together surprisingly quick.  Just saute a base of vegetables and herbs, add the water, and then toss in soba noodles and miso paste.  

The only quirk when it comes to making this soup is that it is near impossible to play with the seasonings until the very end.  Because a lot of the flavor, and all of the salt, in this soup comes from the miso paste, which is added at the VERY end, I had to follow the recipe precisely, and then make a leap of faith that it would be properly seasoned.  

(The recipe actually calls for brown rice miso, but soy miso was all I could find, and it works great.)

Here's the final result in all its noodley goodness.  Warm, hearty, and chock full of protein (my mom constantly worries that I don't get enough).

Too bad there are never any left-overs.

9.5/10 stars from the Big Kahuna... high praise, although now he's opining that parsley, or maybe hot sauce, would bring it up to a perfect 10.