My friends Patricia and Philip know me well. When they see a really interesting cookbook for sale, I’m often the lucky (and grateful) recipient. And they have good taste - especially for food that tastes good! They also understand that cookbooks need to be beautiful as well as practical.
Their most recent gift was a book called, simply, Noodles. Mark loves noodle dishes and this book has many recipes that he wants me to make. To tell you the truth, I’m not complaining.
It gives me a good excuse to go to Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket. Lee Lee's is, I think, the largest supermarket we have in Tucson. It caters to the Asian grocer, but includes foods from all around the world.
For example, when students returned from Namibia and wanted rusks, I found them at Lee Lee. When I needed a whole fresh fish for a cooking class, they had at least 10 varieties from which to choose. I once wanted a Malaysian curry powder, and they had three varieties.
The store’s aisles are organized by nationality: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, British. I have also seen the store listed as Lee Lee International Market.
Whenever I go there, I feel like a kid in a candy store.
The noodle selection alone is astounding! Every noodle mentioned in the book is available, and there are quite a few more that aren’t.
Today, wanting to use several recent gifts including the book, I made a somen noodle soup with pork, scallions, mushrooms, and chile oil.
The chile oil was a homemade gift from Dan and Veronica, and the tureen was a gift from Deb, a colleague at the Honors College. She drew it in our annual White Elephant gift exchange (thanks to Diana who brought it), but knew it would get more use in my kitchen.
There were also some gifts that go back many years - the cloisonné chopsticks that Bill and Alan brought me from China, the bowls Terry and Randy gave me one birthday, and the chopstick rests from Patrician.
Altogether, these beautiful gifts made for an incredible meal. And it coincides with the 4th anniversary of Cocoa and Lavender!
Looks like another good year ahead for noodling around in the kitchen!
~ David
Somen Noodles with Pork, Scallions and Chile Oil
Adapted from Noodles by Vicki Liley
3 ounces fresh ginger, washed
5 scallions
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
4 ounces oyster mushrooms
6-8 ounces Chinese barbecued pork
9 ounces somen noodles *
chile oil
Slice the ginger into coins and place in a soup kettle. Wash the scallions, chop the white parts, and add them to the ginger. Cut the green parts into 1-inch pieces and set aside.
Add stock, water, soy sauce, and sherry to the ginger and white parts of the scallions, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes to flavor the broth.
Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms; set aside. Slice the pork into thin slices; set aside.
Once broth has finished simmering, use a mesh strainer or slotted spoon to take out the ginger. Some scallions will come, too - that is okay. Return to a boil.
Add the noodles and cook one minute. Add the reserved scallion greens, mushrooms and pork. Cook for 1-2 minutes until noodles are done.
Divide among 4 bowls and drizzle with chile oil.
Serves 4.
* If you don't have access to a wide variety of Asian noodles, you could use angel hair pasta.
Labels: chile oil, chinese barbecued pork, ginger, noodles, scallions, somen, soup
