Light Summer Fare

Last week I featured Udon Noodles with the Three Cup Chicken recipe. That, and a bit in the NY Times Food section, got me thinking about cold noodle “salads” which are common and popular in various parts of Asia. We're deep in the summer heat, as is most of the US, and I thought I'd share some light, cool summer dinner ideas with you.
 

Buckwheat Soba and Vegetables

Buckwheat, to some folks' surprise, is not related to wheat at all. It's not a grass. It's related to Sorrel, Knotweed and of all things Rhubarb! But it does produce very tasty seeds which are ground into flour and used in all sorts of dishes. It's a great substitute for folks on a gluten-free diet.

I like buckwheat noodles, especially the soba noodles made in Japan. So the other night when Sally was not home for dinner, I decided to create a cool recipe with chicken, mixed veg and soba.

The noodles take about 3 minutes in boiling water. Then drain and rinse in cool water. I cooked them first and put them in the fridge while I chopped up the veggies and sliced the half chicken breast.

The chicken had been cooked a day or so earlier and stored in the fridge, of course.

For this experiment I went with chopped raw vegetables – red bell pepper, English cucumber, green onion, and Jicama (it's Latin, not Asian, but goes well in all sorts of veggie dishes).

Put the drained noodles in a bowl and top with veggies and chicken. Really tasty, crunchy, and cool! Not to mention healthy. A serving of buckwheat soba is about 200 calories and the chicken about a hundred. Practically no count for the veggies, of course. Although I liked the dish, I thought it would be better with cooked, flavored vegetables, so I went to Phase II:

Cold Rice Noodle Stir Fry

These noodles are the kind used in Pad Thai. When uncooked they are sometimes called cellophane noodles. The thin ones remind me of hairbrush bristles. When deep-fried they puff up, turn white, and look like pipe cleaners!  The ones I chose for this dinner were more or less the size of Italian fettucini, and were boiled not deep fried.

Well, I say “boiled”, but in reality I simply used our HotPot to make a liter of boiling water in about 2 minutes, and poured the boiling water over the noodles. Then I waited about 5 minutes and drained them, ready to serve!

This time I stir fried the vegetables, including snow peas, celery, onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, carrot, cucumber and jicama. While they stir fried I added lots of flavor via a sauce made from low-sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and mirin (rice wine). Then I tossed everything together and put in in the fridge for an hour or so before Sally came home for dinner.

This dish was rated “make it again!” and the leftovers went in Sally's lunch the next day!

Either of these techniques (not really recipes are they?) can be used with other noodles, like Udon, or even Italian spagetti or fettucini!

 

Udon Noodles work well in cold noodle dishes

Turkey Rissole

It wasn't all noodles this week. I got these ground turkey patties (rissoles as the Brits call them), premade at the megamart, and wanted to do something other than the ubiquitous turkey-burger. So I dusted them with a bit of Ras el Hanut, Moroccan seasoning, and simply pan fried them. At the end of the fry up, I topped each rissole with a spoonful of the Spanish Salsa Verde that I made and wrote about a couple weeks back, in connection with the Mongetes bean recipe. On the side I served a large baked (microwaved) Yam.

Fast, easy, tasty, and doesn't over-heat the kitchen during the dog days of summer.

Mango Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo is a sort of relish often served as an accompaniment to Mexican dishes. I usually make a batch to put on tacos, so my guests don't have to dig into three or four bowls for taco toppings. This version, with mango, goes really well with fish tacos, which I made for Sunday brunch this week.

1 Roma Tomato, diced

1/2 cup diced Onion

1 filet of firm Mango, diced

1/4 of a red Jalapeño (milder than the green) veined, seeded and diced fine

1/8 cup Cilantro, chopped (unless you like more)

Juice of two Limes

Splash of White Wine Vinegar

Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Mix it all together. Chill. Serve.

Jicama Carrot Slaw

Here's that jicama again. Cool, crisp, juicy and slightly sweet. This dish is a great substitute for 'ordinary' cole slaw, and makes a great side with fish tacos.

1 cup shredded Jicama

1 cup shredded Carrot

¼ cup thin sliced Red Onion

3 Tbsp Sweet Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing

Toss everything together to combine. Chill and serve.