Friday, September 11, 2009

Crisp Soba Noodles (With Chicken) for Tyler Florence Fridays

It's OK, my little dish of Tyler's Crisp Soba Noodles knows that it won't win any beauty awards this week and is fine with it. There is just not a lot you can do to make pan-fried brown buckwheat noodles attractive! However, if there is an award for an easy, tasty dish, this recipe will be a contender. With Asian flavors and simple ingredients, it makes a good side dish or the foundation for a light meal.


This recipe is from Food 911 on Food Network (here).

Crisp Soba Noodles
Tyler Florence
(Makes 4-6 Servings)

1 package soba noodles* (400 grams or about 14 ounces) or thin spaghetti
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, plus more for frying
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 bunch scallions, sliced thin
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped

*available in the Asian section of your market

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the soba noodles until done, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain the noodles but do not rinse them. Drizzle the sesame oil over them and toss them well. Add the sesame seeds, scallions, cilantro, and ginger. Mix well to combine the ingredients.

Heat a non stick or cast iron pan over medium heat. Add a bit of sesame oil to the skillet. Layer the noodle mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Cook the noodles, stirring often, until they are brown and crispy, about 15 minutes. Serve as a side dish or use them as a garnish for soups or salads.


Notes/Results: Great! Good flavor with the ginger, sesame oil, scallions and cilantro. I made a half batch and lightened the oil up by about 1/2, which worked fine. I found it needed just a bit of salt so I threw in a couple splashes of low-sodium soy sauce which was perfect. The noodles have a nice texture, a little chewy (in a good way), combined with little bites of crispy. I topped my noodles with some sliced grilled chicken breast and with a small salad it made a perfect dinner. I would make this again. 

You can check out what recipes our other Tyler Florence Fridays members picked this week and what they thought of them by going to the TFF site (here).



BTW--If you love cooking groups, check out the new, "I Heart Cooking Clubs" being hosted by my friends Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies and Heather of girlichef and of course, yours truly. 


Our plan is to spend time cooking with different chefs and cooks, starting out with the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson. There will be a different theme each week but you get to pick the recipes you want to make for each theme and can jump in for any of the themes you want to do. Fun & flexible! Check out the IHCC site (here) for more details and to see the theme we are starting of with. (No Nigella cookbooks? That's OK, the Food Network site has plenty of her recipes as does her own site (here), so problem solved!). Hope you join us!

15 comments:

  1. never had soba noodles crisp, but it sounds yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha I just wrote on Natashya's site how good Tyler is at coming up with Asian-flavored recipes. This looks to be no exception! I would love to join this new cooking club. So excited!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have never had crispy soba noodles either, sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds so delicious! Just the name is enough to make me hungry. I'm thinking I'd love a plate of these :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh this looks great love these noodles yummy

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm a lover of all pasta and this is no exception. It looks great! I'm excited about the new cooking club. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just love the TF Fridays! To me, it looks great! I love soba, a fairly recent discovery for me. I've not made any crisp soba recipes. This definitely looks like one to try.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The recipe sounds fantastic, Deb. I've never had noodles like these. I'm going to have to give them a try.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This sounds like a perfect dish.. one can not go wrong with tyler. Your new group sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think I like the idea of crisp soba noodles. This is a really nice Asian twist.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just because its not vibrant with all sorts of lovely, colors doesn't mean its not a beautiful dish. you did a great job...it looks great.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds very tasty! My family & I would love the crispy texture and the sesame & ginger flavor, excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've had that recipe printed and ready to go for the longest time - and it's good to know that it actually tastes better than it looks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think it looks great! It's one that I've wanted to try.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, those fried soba noodles look absolutely wonderful! One of my very favorite Chinese take-out dinners is called 'pan fried golden noodle' --it's a big mess of noodles (and for the life of my I can not find them at any Asian market, they are thick and golden and long like spaghetti with almost a spongy texture after they sop up the sauce, any ideas?), fried until crispy on the bottom and then covered in lots of veggies in a delicious sauce.

    Sorry to go off on a tangent there, it's just one of those restaurant meals that I can't recreate at home and your crisp soba noodles had my wanting it :)

    ReplyDelete

Mahalo for visiting and for leaving a comment. I love reading them and they mean a lot!

All advertising, spam, inappropriate (or just plain rude) comments will be promptly deleted. I do appreciate your right to free speech and to your opinion but I'm not into mean, rude, or mean snarky (non-mean snarky is just fine!) ;-)