Tag Archives: Asian noodle recipe

Mushroom Udon with Honey? You Bet!

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Mushrooms, udon, and honey? Say what?
Mushrooms, udon, and honey? Say what?

Admittedly, when I first laid eyes on this recipe for “Honey-Glazed Mushrooms with Udon,” I was initially a little skeptical.

Mushrooms with honey? Really?

But James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Hetty Lui McKinnon has never steered me wrong in any of her other recipes that I’ve made.

Ditto for this one. Not only was this recipe quick and effortless, but it showed me just how honey could further deepen the caramelized taste of sauteed mushrooms.

First published in the New York Times, this recipe calls for boiling frozen or fresh udon noodles, then rinsing well to remove excess starch.

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Drunken Noodles

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A tasty Thai noodle dish -- with a little tweaking.
A tasty Thai noodle dish — with a little tweaking.

Far from it for me to disparage this “Drunken Noodles with Chicken” recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.

But I think someone might have been hitting the sauce when writing this one.

America’s Test Kitchen, with its meticulous and detailed recipe testing, is typically the holy grail. But when I saw that this recipe that uses 8 ounces of noodles called for half a cup of brown sugar in the sauce, I was aghast. A tablespoon or two maybe. But half a cup?!?

Still, because I like to adhere to new recipes exactly the first time I make them, I followed suit. The result was what I feared — noodles as sweet as candy. Definitely not what you want. The noodles also were swimming in that sauce.

So, the next time, I cut the sauce amount in half, but kept the quantities the same for everything else. What I ended up with was far more delicious and balanced.

“Drunken Noodles with Chicken” is from The Complete One Pot: 400 Meals For Your Skillet, Sheet Pan, Instant Pot, Dutch Oven, and More” (America’s Test Kitchen), of which I received a review copy.

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Andrea Nguyen’s Pho Of A Different Sort

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Crispy on the outside, and chewy-custardy soft inside.

Crispy on the outside, and chewy-custardy soft inside.

 

There is pho. And then there is pho pancake.

Yes, my friends, get ready for something all together different and delicious.

Leave it to my friend and cookbook author extraordinaire Andrea Nguyen to come up with this novel version of everyone’s favorite soup noodles.

“Pan Fried Pho Noodles” is from her newest tome, “The Pho Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press), which already went into its second printing before it was even officially released in February.

You may have enjoyed steaming huge bowls of brothy noodles countless times at neighborhood Vietnamese restaurants. But with this book, you’ll learn how to make your own — from preparing the broth from scratch to choosing noodles and assembling garnishes and toppings.

PhoCookbook

Depending upon how labor-intensive you’re feeling, you can choose among quick versions of pho (which calls for doctoring purchased low-sodium broth or buying a rotisserie chicken) to pressure-cooker recipes that speed up the process to non-traditional riffs such as seafood pho.

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Ruth Reichl’s Spicy Korean Rice Sticks with Shrimp and Vegetables

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A comforting Korean dish that can be made a flash.

A comforting Korean dish that can be made a flash.

 

When times are tough, some people find solace in chocolate. Or wine. Or endless handfuls of potato chips.

Not Ruth Riechl.

When Gourmet magazine abruptly shut down, its former editor in chief came in to clean out her office. The place was deserted with nothing but empty drawers and cabinets to greet her when she was surprised by the arrival of four friends. They had flown in from California to offer their support.

They gathered up Reichl, and together rode the subway to Flushing to commiserate over a feast of Asian food. At the end of it all, one friend, Laurie Ocha, a former executive editor at Gourmet who is married to Pulitizer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold, gave her a present to take home.

It was a package of Korean rice sticks, which she hoped would inspire Reichl to forge ahead. It did the trick, and “Spicy Korean Rice Sticks with Shrimp and Vegetables” is one of the memorable recipes in her newest book, “My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life” (Random House), of which I received a review copy.

MyKitchenYear

This is a cookbook, in which the recipes couldn’t be more personal. Each has played an important role in Reichl’s life, and she shares affecting and lovingly honest reasons why.

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