then i encountered a 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp. hm, shrimp and asparagus sound good. but without rice or another carb i'd have to eat a lot of shrimp and spears to satisfy my appetite. so i strolled through the staple aisles for something to match. all the rice a roni pilafs looked gross. stuffing wouldn't do. pasta is boring. and then i came across a box of rice stick noodles.
ah yes! i've been wanting to cook with these for a while. think pad thai noodles: chewy, starchy and springy. i thought the aspargus sauce would stir fry nicely with the noodles so there you go. on to the good stuff.
to prep the noodles, i had to soak a 1/2 lb dried rice sticks in very hot tap water for 25 min. this gets it "al dente" for the stir fry.
rice noodles are made from rice flour and come in several widths from threads to flat sticks. they're used in many different asian stir fries and noodle soup dishes.
i then thawed 1 lb shrimp under cold running water, minced 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 3 scallions, and prepped the asparagus by snapping off the tough woody ends and and slicing thinly on the diagonal.
a wok is heated over high heat and canola oil (substitute whatever oil you want) is heated until barely smoking. the garlic goes in for a few seconds to fragrant the oil and the asparagus follows. a minute later the shrimp is tossed in.
fresh ground pepper is added and the sauce, prepped before cooking, is dumped over the shrimp and asparagus. the sauce is 2 T hoisin sauce, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T sesame oil, 1 T grated ginger (use a micro planer), and 1 T plum sauce mixed together.
the drained, softened noodles are added and tossed with the scallions and some cilantro.
after a couple of minutes, it's ready to be plated.
the sauce blends well with the shrimp and aspargus and coats, or is absorbed by rather, the rice noodles so it's more of a dry stir fry.
the chewy noodles counter the crisp asparagus nicely. and the shrimp is tender and sweet.
this turned out rather well. next time, i might increase the amount of sauce going in; i think i'd like it a little wetter. i'd also look at using larger shrimp, as they shrink incredibly when cooked. i used a 31/40 count (which means 31-40 shrimp per pound) but should look at a 21/24 count size.
anyway, guess what i'm having for lunch tomorrow??
Posts
4 comments:
how much time do you reckon taking the photos (and preparing the shots) adds to your cooking time? it's like going on vacation and being so concerned about taking pictures that you don't get to just sit back and enjoy everything. but great pics either way. keep up the good work! :oD
that looks good and easy. I'll have to try this...first, I need to buy a wok.
taking photos of the steps really does not add any significant amount of time to the process. the shots are taken casually as i'm prepping and cooking. practice and repetition has taught me how to take well-lit and positioned pictures consistently. the only part that takes some set up, sometimes, is the plating shot.
that said, visually documenting my cooking isn't a chore, but part of the fun of sharing my experiences in the kitchen with you people on this blog. so i do get to sit back and enjoy not only the cooking and the delicious food, but also people reading and responding to my posts, as i am now. =)
leslie - if you get a wok, just pick up a non-stick stir-fry pan at target for $15-20. they work beautifully and clean up easily, which is muy important. a real stainless steel or iron wok is too much a pain to season properly, is heavy and hard to clean. you also end up using more oil to keep food from sticking. which is why chinese restaurant food is so damn tasty. =P
Post a Comment