Tag Archive for 'noodles'

Butternut Squash Beef Stroganoff

Published by mel on October 20, 2008 in entree and recipe.

Butternut Squash Beef Stroganoff

A couple of years ago I found and made a recipe for Turkey Pumpkin Stroganoff that was absolutely delicious. Since then, I’ve moved twice and lost the recipe along the way. Yesterday was the first almost-cool day of the year in Miami. It was overcast and breezy and I wanted to make something a little spicy, beefy and noodly. Stroganoff was just the thing.

Although I’m loving pumpkin and turkey right now, I decided against trying to recreate the lost recipe, and used butternut squash and lean ground beef instead. Mostly, because I was too lazy to drive out to the good grocery store and the one nearby doesn’t carry organic ground turkey. This happens a lot. Anyway, I spiced it up with sweet and smoked paprika, nutmeg and caraway seeds for a warming fall dish.

This Stroganoff would be equally delicious with your favorite winter squash or pumpkin, and you can add chunky cubes of it, or creamy pureed squash. Go ahead and use ground turkey or beef, or even thinly sliced steak in the traditional method for Stroganoff. I would also add some portabello mushrooms next time to give it more of an earthly flavor and I might even bake it with some breadcrumbs scattered on top. I love baked pasta (who doesn’t?) and this just might be the best way to reheat the leftovers!

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summer roll remix: mango, basil & tea-infused noodles

Published by mel on July 2, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.

summer roll remix: mango, basil & tea-infused noodles

Last month, I posted some traditional summer rolls made with carrot, cucumber, rice noodles and cilantro. While delicious, I had a hard time handling the rice paper. Thanks to some fabulous tips from Ami, I managed to make them much more quickly and efficiently this time.

I also wanted to experiment with the fillings, so I went with mango, basil and tea-infused rice noodles. I soaked the rice noodles in a strong brew of Lapsang Souchong tea, which gave them a smoky and almost spicy flavor that made a nice contrast to the mango and basil. I also sprinkled some of the dried tea leaves over the filling before wrapping the rolls for extra flavor.

Since it was a weeknight and I was feeling a bit lazy, I made a simple dipping sauce by combining Ponzu and Sriracha. Ponzu is a citrusy Japanese sauce made from Shoyu, Mirin, rice vinegar and yuzu. It salty, tart and a little bit sweet.

All in all, I think I like these little mango rolls. They were different and refreshing, but still felt as light as the traditional version. Tom thought they were too “herbal” because I used 2 basil leaves per roll. I suppose I agree, so I adjusted the recipe here to call for 1 basil leaf per roll. Feel free to play with the ingredients, or to substitute Chai or another strong black tea if you can’t find Lapsang Sauchong.

In honor of the 4th of July, I’ll be posting something decidedly non-American on Friday, but perfect for beach snacking: homemade empanadas with 3(!) kinds of filling. Yum!

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big, slurpy bowl of udon noodles

Published by mel on May 30, 2008 in entree and recipe.

big, slurpy bowl of udon noodles

Nothing says comfort food like a big bowl of slurpy noodles. Surprisingly, I don’t miss living in New York as much as I thought I would. I’ve adjusted well to the tropical weather and the beach across the street from my home. And the flip flops. But one of the things I really miss is the delicious and plentiful Asian food. It’s sorely lacking here in Miami, so I’ve taken to making much more of it at home than I ever did in New York.

Lately, the craving has been for a big bowl of Udon noodles with pork, dumplings, fish cakes (they’re delicious - I swear!), shrimp tempura and a poached egg. A bit weird since it’s full-blown summer here and that’s definitely a winter meal. But I craved it nonetheless. And it’s nowhere to be found. (If anyone has a recommendation, please please please leave a comment!)

Where was I? Oh yeah - so I made some Udon soup to calm the craving. It’s not really authentic, and doesn’t have the shrimp tempura or the fish cakes, but it’s still a big comfy bowl of noodle soup. And it’s delicious!

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toasted sesame noodle salad w/nori-crusted tofu

Published by mel on May 6, 2008 in entree and recipe.

toasted sesame noodle salad w/nori-crusted tofu

I’ve got warn you before you click through or scroll down to today’s recipe. The ingredient list is 23 items long. 23! I know, it’s ridiculous, but I swear the recipe isn’t as complicated as it looks. The most complicated thing about it is making sure you have enough clean bowls to work with. In fact, of those 23 ingredients listed below, 5 are repeated. Let’s do some quick math here. That makes a grand total of…18 ingredients. Ok, that’s still a lot. But it’s not as bad as it seems. Everything took 30 - 40 minutes of active time. Not that bad!

It’s no surprise that I’m making a noodle salad. We all know that I love a cold noodle salad. This is yet another variation. I think this is my new favorite, though. The cabbage, scallions and sugar snap peas add enough vegetable matter to not feel guilty about the noodles, and the spicy peas and toasted sesame dressing gives everything a rich, decadent feel.

The Nori-crusted tofu was also amazingly, surprisingly good. I’m not sure I’ll prepare tofu another way again. Even if you think the rest of the recipe is crazy - try the tofu. I’m serious. My husband raved about it. He raved about tofu. He who hails from the meat-eating Midwest. He who is obsessed with chorizo and lamb and pork and burgers. If you like Asian food, try the tofu. You will thank me.

It’s also a really well-balanced meal: vegetables, protein, good fat (peanuts), whole grains (brown rice noodles) and rich nutrients (Nori). So, without furhter ado, I present Toasted Sesame Noodle Salad with Nori-Crusted Tofu.

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vietnamese noodle salad

Published by mel on March 27, 2008 in entree and recipe.

vietnamese noodle salad

Growing up in Miami I had very little access to Asian food (greasy Chinese takeout was pretty much it) and I never really knew what Vietnamese cuisine was until I moved to Boston. The first time I had a noodle salad, I was blown away. It came in a big, deep bowl with tons of fresh herbs and vegetables and a slightly sweet, acidic dressing. As with most noodle bowls, I felt like I could eat tons and tons of it in one sitting. (I didn’t.)

I finally decided to take a stab at recreating it at home and the results were really good! I took a shortcut by using broccoli slaw, which can be found at most markets. I also added savoy cabbage and scallions for a more authentic flavor and some cashews for crunch. The salad was light and healthy and the mint, cilantro and basil lent a fresh, summery taste to the dish. I also added slices of flank steak that had been rubbed with brown sugar and chile powder for a sweet and spicy protein. For me, it’s the perfect summer salad.

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cold noodle salad

Published by mel on January 16, 2008 in entree and recipe.

cold noodle salad

Perhaps this is a little inappropriate for January, but I live in Miami and it’s 80 degrees outside, so I’m going to post a recipe for a cold salad. Maybe you can get to it in April or May.

This is my interpretation of Heidi’s Otsu. Her recipe calls for cucumber, more olive oil, and different quantities of vinegar and soy. Hers is fabulous, but I wanted a little less olive oil and soy sauce and I didn’t have cucumbers on hand. I also added some cashews for more crunch. I suspect adding 2 tbsp. of all natural chunky peanut butter would be delicious as well.

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curry noodles

Published by mel on September 18, 2007 in entree and recipe.

My favorite aunt-in-law spied a photo of curry noodles on my Flickr account a couple of weeks ago, and has since been persuading me to post the recipe. She likes curry. A lot. Since I don’t want to cause irreparable damage to our relationship, I figured it’d be best to get this recipe up post haste.

curry noodles

I adapted these curry noodles from (you guessed it!) Super Natural Cooking. It calls for slightly more red curry paste than I can handle, and I substituted regular curry powder for Tumeric because it’s what was in the pantry, and beef stock for vegetable stock because what can I say? I love the beef. I also cannot find wide Asian-style noodles that are whole wheat or whole grain, so I went with Soba noodles because at least they’re made from buckwheat. I didn’t substitute anything for the tofu because I love the way it soaks up the curry broth here, but this dish would work equally well with chicken, shellfish or beef. Lastly, I added sliced orange bell pepper for color and opted for adding a little more stock so that I could cook the noodles right in the curry broth for more flavor.

curry noodles

So, without further ado, curry noodle recipe after the jump!

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