Pasta + Noodles + Rice – Page 4 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Sesame Noodles with Spring Vegetables

Ever since I started working in Connecticut, I’ve missed Asian food. I spend my weekends back in the city eating what I can’t get at work during the day: banh mi, bulgogi, Sichuan-anything, pho, congee, rice and noodles. I’m usually tired of the commute when I get home, but I use the little energy I have left to make myself an easy meal with every bit of Asian-ness I can muster.

You may use any long pasta for this recipe. I used spaghetti because it’s all I had the night I wanted to make this. If you have soba noodles, even better. And don’t feel like you have to use the vegetables I have here. This is a good dish to make to experiment with the spring vegetables you’re seeing out in the markets right now. If you like some crunch, toast the sesame seeds before sprinkling or shower the dish with crushed cashews.

Ingredients:
1 package of spaghetti
1 packaged of extra firm tofu, sliced in manageable squares
1 small Kirby cucumber, sliced
a handful of baby carrots, chopped
a handful of baby corn, halved
a handful of sugar snap peas, destringed
sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 spring onion, chopped
sesame seeds
salt

1. Cook the spaghetti al dente in a pot of boiling water. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
2. In a large skillet, heat some sesame oil. Sauté garlic until light brown. Add spring onion and cook until soft. Add all the vegetables and cook by tossing. The pan should be hot enough to cook the carrots and the corn.
3. When carrots are half-cooked, add the spaghetti. Toss to combine well. Add more sesame oil so that it doesnâ€™t dry up. Add the tofu and gently combine. Itâ€™s okay if your tofu gets crushed a little. Sprinkle with salt to taste and some sesame seeds before serving.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Beet Greens

I didn’t know that the apartment I bought came with a Korean cook. I can’t even begin to explain how it feels like to come home–your own home–from work with dinner ready at the table.

Uh-oh, I’m nesting!

I came home one night and the Dr. was already working in the kitchen. The beets were already roasted and out of the oven and the pasta was in the pot. When I saw him clean off the grit from the beet greens, I knew the roasted beets were for later. Iâ€™ve seen him do this before and it’s from him I learned not to waste food parts that most people throw away. I was excited for the next day’s lunch of beets, but I was even more hungry for the pasta with beet greens for dinner.

Iâ€™m not complaining. Best apartment ever!

Ingredients:
beet greens with stems from 2 bunches of beets, thoroughly washed, chopped in half
1 box of whole wheat spaghetti
a handful of golden raisins
1/2 cup pitted brine-cured black olives, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsps balsamic vinegar
goat cheese
salt, oil

1. In a pot, boil some water and cook the pasta until al dente. You’re going to need some of that pasta water in steps 3 and 4. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat some oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add pine nuts and toast, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.
3. Add garlic to remaining oil and cook until golden. Add onions until soft. Add balsamic vinegar and stir until most of it has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add beet stems, some pasta water, and a dash of salt. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until stems are tender.
4. Add raisins, then beet greens, while stirring with tongs until leaves are wilted. Do in small handfuls if you have a small skillet. Add a splash of pasta water and cover to cook the greens, about 2 minutes. Add olives, then the cooked pasta, just until liquid has thickened slightly. Sprinkle with pine nuts and add a dollop of goat cheese before serving.

Related post/s:
Don’t waste your carrot tops either

Chicken with Black Wild Rice

This dish may seem like a meal for spring but if you use a hardy green like kale, then it fits any blustery winter day. I used Lacinato kale, also known as black kale, because it barely needs some cooking. Toss it with snow peas and carrots, or any other vegetable you can eat raw, and you’re good to go. I used peanut oil to cook the chicken but you can certainly substitute it with whatever oil you use to cook your meats especially if you have an allergy. The key here is to keep your sauté pan hot while you continuously toss and mix the ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 cups of black wild rice
2 chicken breast fillets, cubed
1 bunch of Lacinato kale, chiffonade
a handful of snow peas
a handful of baby carrots, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
a splash of soy sauce
a splash of sherry vinegar
a splash of sesame oil
peanut oil
salt

1. In a large frying pan, heat some oil and cook chicken until no longer pink inside. Set aside in the pan and sauté onions until soft. Mix chicken and onions together and toss in the rest of the vegetables.
2. In the meantime, cook black wild rice per package instructions. Boil three cups of water per cup of rice. Simmer for 45 minutes. Drain rice and fluff.
3. Add the rice to the vegetables and keep sautéing to complete cooking the vegetables. Add a few splashes of sherry vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil and mix well. Season with salt.

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Arugula

Dear, Anna. Believe it or not, the sun-dried tomatoes I used in this recipe are still from the batch you sent me a year ago after your trip to Argentina. I only had a handful left but I felt bad about throwing them away. After a few minutes in hot water, they softened up and I was able to chop them in smaller pieces. Off they went with some heavy cream and into my stomach for dinner tonight. Thanks again, Cia.

Ingredients:
2 cups of penne pasta
1 cup of sundried tomatoes, soaked in hot water, drained, roughly chopped
a few handfuls of arugula
pancetta, chopped
1 cup of heavy cream
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small red onion, sliced
a handful of basil leaves, chopped

1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. While cooking pasta, render some fat by cooking the pancetta. Remove the pancetta and set aside. Using the fat, sauté garlic until brown and then add onions until soft. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and add return the browned pancetta.
3. Pour in the heavy cream and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix every so often to avoid drying up. Turn off the heat and fold in the arugula to wilt. Add the drained pasta in the skillet and mix well. Toss with basil before serving.

Fusilli with Octopus

My supermarket in Harlem had these octopus in cans on sale. The idea of a cephalopod in a can sounded odd but the ingredients list didn’t have any weird stuff in it except for octopus and olive oil so I thought it wouldn’t do me any harm to buy a couple for less than $3.

With some fusilli pasta boiling in a pot–you can use any pasta you have handy–I sautéed leftover vegetables I already had in the fridge: mixed greens, dried mushrooms, parsley and garlic scape. The dish turned out really well and it served two meals with a few glasses of Verdejo wine.

Ingredients:
2 tins of octopus in olive oil
2 cups of fusilli pasta
1 cup dried mushrooms, soaked in water for 15 minutes, then drained
a few handfuls of mixed greens
1 garlic scape, chopped
1 small red onion, sliced
a handful of parsley, coarsely chopped
a small wedge of Piave cheese
red chili flakes
oil, salt, pepper

1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. While cooking pasta, heat some oil in a skillet. Sauté garlic scapes until fragrant and then add onions until soft. Add octopus with its oil and toss. Add the mushrooms, the mixed greens and the parsley until well combined. Season with chili flakes, salt and pepper.
3. Add the drained pasta in the skillet and mix well. Serve with grated Piave cheese.