This teriyaki flavored noodle dish was a spontaneous creation resulting from a total change in direction in the middle of the dinner-making process. It went over really well, so I thought I would pass it on.
Given the size of my family, one would think it essential for me to be super organized with meals. Sometimes I do plan ahead, especially for dishes requiring special ingredients. However, most days go more like this. Around lunch time, I pull something from the freezer and throw it in water with the fervent hope it will be thawed before I need to start cooking. I let ideas percolate in the back of my mind, and, by three o'clock, usually have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to make. At four o'clock, I start cooking and we eat sometime after five.
The night I made this, I had taken out a pack of chicken breasts, the big split ones with the skin and bones, because they were on sale. I was pretty set on making Alfredo. The plan was to use two of the breasts in the sauce and save the other to shred up for salads later. I seasoned the chicken with that in mind: himalayan salt, pepper, onion powder and rosemary, and put it in the oven at 350º to bake.
With the chicken in the oven, I got started on the noodles. I use this recipe from Ree Drummond. Four eggs and two cups of flour makes enough — for now — for my family of six. You can click through to the recipe for more detailed instructions, but they're really very simple to make. Just mix the eggs and flour, knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky, roll out and cut. I find it helpful to knead and roll out small chunks rather than the whole batch at once. As the noodles are cut, I lay them out on a baking sheet and cover with a towel.
Once the noodles were done, I sautéed the mushrooms and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Once cooked, I removed them from the pan and added broccoli and a little bit of water. I covered the pan and let the florets steam.
I hadn't told Darren was I was making because it wasn't likely to be ready before he had to leave for work, and I knew he would be bummed. Alfredo is his favorite. He was milling around the kitchen with I started the broccoli and asked if I was making stir-fry.
No, but dang! That sounded good. Too bad I already had the noodles made. Also, we were out of the vegetables I generally like to use. So, I tried to think of something to satisfy the sudden stir-fry craving, which would also work with the noodles and veggies on hand, and came up with teriyaki sauce.
After the broccoli was done, I dumped it into a bowl with the mushrooms and added a sliced onion to the pan. I fried that in a little butter, because it just seems right to cook onion in butter. When done, those went into the bowl with the other veggies. I put about an inch of water in the pan, along with a few glugs of soy sauce, and added some honey, ground ginger, red pepper flakes and sugar. Most teriyaki recipes call for brown sugar. My brown sugar wasn't open, but a bag of raw cane sugar was, so I just used that. I let that simmer to reduce, alternating between stirring it and tearing up the chicken, which was done and had been resting for a few minutes by that point.
My sauce was very unscientific. When it looked like it was close to being the right amount to cover the noodles without being really sloppy, I stirred in some sesame seeds, then dumped my homemade noodles into some boiling water. They cook very quickly, about three minutes, so they go in at the very end.
While the noodles were cooking, I dumped the the vegetables into the teriyaki sauce, stirring to coat and making sure it was heated through. When the noodles were ready, I drained and tossed them with a little olive oil. Everything was stirred together in a large serving bowl, and dinner was ready.
Now that you have the process, here is the ingredients list for my random concoction. One thing to keep in mind, I don't measure ingredients. I cook by smell guided by previous experience. I've followed enough recipes to have a general idea of what spices are good together and in what proportion. The ingredients list is really a best guess, feel free to modify and adjust as needed.
2 Chicken breasts - cooked
6 small portabella mushrooms
2 Tbsp Olive oil, divided
3 cloves of garlic
2 Cups broccoli
1 large onion
1 Tbsp butter
water
1/2 to 1 tsp ground gingerred pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 Cup soy sauce
1/4 Cup honey
2 Tbsp raw can sugar
2 tsp to 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Season the chicken to taste and bake while preparing the rest. Sauté the mushrooms and garlic in olive oil, remove from pan. Steam broccoli until crisp tender, remove from pan. Add onion and butter, and cook until union is translucent. Remove from pan. Add water and remaining ingredients, except sesame seeds, and simmer to reduce. Add sesame seeds and vegetables to sauce and heat through. Toss in a bowl with cooked pasta and serve.
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