Tag: Noodles

Weekend Finds 5:18:14

I’m writing this post from my hotel room in California, where I watched my baby sister graduate yesterday. Her school threw an incredibly fun party, where we ate good food and danced with my adorable grandmother and family. What a lovely way to celebrate. Now, on to weekend finds.

1. Storing Asparagus

Storing Asparagus // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Storing your asparagus correctly involves trimming the ends and standing it in water.

In our house these days, you will usually find at least 3 bunches of asparagus in the fridge at any given time. Clearly, my housemates and I are ready for spring/summer produce, ready for a change, ready for something other than root vegetables and kale. Because as good as all that stuff is, it’s really hard to eat it for 6 months and not get tired. And sometimes, we play a game of “Whose asparagus is that?” Anyway, my point is, these tips for keeping your asparagus fresh and lasting longer will be welcome in my household.

2. Foodies, a Documentary

Foodies, a Documentary // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
A film about foodies? Yes please. And I’ll eat some truffle popcorn while I watch it.

A documentary about my people? Yes please. I’ll go see it for sure. The trick is to find out where it’ll be playing. And also to figure out how I can hop a flight for my dinner reservation.

3. Supper.mx

Supper.mx // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
A screenshot of the Supper.mx website: recipes, Spotify playlists, descriptions, etc.

I’ll definitely be trying out this music app at my next dinner party. Simple as that.

4. Parmesan Broth

Parmesan broth on Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Always save your rinds!

I love using up as much flavor-creating ingredients as I can, and one thing I can’t stand to throw away is parmesan rinds. Now that I’ve found parmesan broth, I’m going to make lots of it, and use it in probably all of the ways listed in this article.

5. Crack Slurp

Crack Slurp on Lady and Pups // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
These noodles look oh so good.

Yes, that is the name of this recipe from Lady and Pups. The guide to Asian noodles, this recipe has you frying up chicken skin, the “crack,” and reserving the fat to stir in with some fresh delicious noodles and sprinkle the fried skin on top. I don’t know if I can find all of the ingredients she uses, but I certainly hope to try recreating some version of this.

Weekend Finds 1:18:14

What a week it has been. I spent my “weekend” on the coast with my mom and baby sister while Jonah was in Vegas (blech) for work. The coast, Cannon Beach specifically, is one of my favorite places in the world, any time of year. I am guaranteed to breathe deeper, be more reflective, and relax. I am also guaranteed to get teased by my little sister (endlessly), do some knitting with my mom, and visit all our favorite spots. And last night my dad and Darla arrived for a little weekend in Portland, so we’ve been hanging around and eating when I haven’t been at work. Let’s get on with weekend finds, shall we?

1. Noodles and Sauce

Matching Pasta and Sauces on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Matching pasta and sauces

Ever get to the store, wanting to make pasta, and you see all those cool noodle shapes and think, well I guess I’ll just put tomato sauce on it? Don’t think that. Check out this list of what noodles go best with what sauces. Speaking of pasta and sauces, these are some neat little tricks to add a little pizazz to any bowl of pasta.

2. Crest Bottle Opener

Beautiful bottle opener on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
This beautiful bottle opener would make functional art in the kitchen.

I’ve seen a few variations of this bottle opener (including one made locally, which is what I’d prefer to buy, but I can’t remember where I saw it). This is a bottle opener that I would totally hang on a hook in my kitchen, because it is simply pretty enough to be a functional decoration. I love that.

3. Need help eating more vegetables? Try reorganizing your fridge.

Eat more vegetables! on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Tips to eat more fruits and vegetables.

It’s now well into January, and the resolutions are becoming more like distant memories… But we can do it! Let’s all go to the gym together! I’m kidding. But this is a great idea to get yourself to eat more vegetables. It’s hard when they’re all hidden and covered in that crisper drawer. I like their idea of getting some clear tubs to use on those shelves so the apples don’t go rolling around and the big leafy greens are still wrangle-able.

4. Cooking Slow by Andrew Schloss

Cooking Slow on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Cooking Slow by Andrew Schloss

Uhhhh yes please. It’s that point in the winter when I am getting tired of root vegetables and roasted chicken… this book sounds like everything I want to eat, but am not eating. Want.

5. DIY Sour Mix

DIY Sour Mix on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
DIY Sour Mix from A Beautiful Mess

There’s really no reason not to make your own sour mix. I like a pretty dang sour whiskey sour, and this way I can a) always have it as sour as I want and b) not have to do nearly as much work for a whiskey sour, because there will be a beautiful bottle of sour mix waiting for me whenever I want. And really, should drinking always be that easy? (Ugh, I’m starting to sound like I drink a lot, aren’t I?)

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl
Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

For those of you who saw the title of this post and went “What the hell is a Momofuku?” let me explain. Momofuku is a group of restaurants in New York owned by Chef David Chang. The group includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Milk Bar, and a few more. Anyway, I became mildly obsessed when I bought my dad the Momofuku cookbook for his birthday last year (he was obsessed after having eaten at one of the restaurants on a trip to NYC). Momofuku translates in Japanese as Lucky Peach, which is the name of a magazine that David Chang has recently published, all about cooking and eating. It includes articles by some other chef favorites like Anthony Bourdain, Wiley Dufresne, and Mario Batali.

Anyway! I found this recipe for a Momofuku noodle bowl on a blog called A Cozy Kitchen, which I’ve used before and I really enjoy. While the recipe is a little ingredient heavy, it’s really delicious, so although it may be a little extra work to get all this stuff (luckily Jonah and I already had the Asian ingredients), it’s worth it. We use stuff like soy sauce and rice wine vinegar all the time. They’re handy things to have around for a quick and easy meal (feeling lazy? marinate some chicken in soy sauce, mirin, garlic, and olive oil). We did fudge some things though, so I’m putting in the actual recipe and in parentheses what we did.

Momofuku Noodle Bowl

Ingredients

1 medium sized cucumber
¼+ tsp salt
½+ tsp sugar
2 ½ cups (or one bunch) thinly sliced scallions
½ cup (or just one large piece) minced ginger
¼ cup grapeseed oil (we used olive oil because we didn’t have grapeseed)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
½ large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb noodles – ramen, soba, or lo mein (we used udon)

Instructions

Thinly slice the cucumber. In a bowl toss the cucumber with salt and sugar and let it sit for a few minutes and then taste one of the slices. Adjust the salt and sugar as necessary. I ended up probably using twice or even 3 times as much sugar and salt. Just because I wanted it. Thought it tasted better.

In a different bowl combine the scallions, ginger, 1/4 cup of olive oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Allow to sit and marinate for 30 minutes.

While those items are marinating, heat the Tbl of olive oil in a pan and add the cauliflower. Cook them on high till they start to brown and get a bit crispy. While the cauliflower is cooking, you can boil water and cook your noodles according to the package. Once the noodles are cooked, toss them with the scallion/ginger sauce. Now, serve the noodles in a bowl, and top with the cauliflower and cucumbers.

Now, this is a vegetarian dish, but Jonah and I were hankering for some more protein, so we bought a chicken breast. Jonah cut it up into bite size pieces and cooked it with a bit of fish sauce, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce, and it was good. A delicious addition to the dish. Yum!