4th
Soba noodles with pea shoots, green garlic, shiitakes and tofu
This is a kind of ugly one, I admit, but it’s absolutely delicious, packed with protein, and really easy—not to mention a great use of some of your less conventional CSA vegetables. The shiitake mushrooms, while not exactly local, really impart a lot of flavor here, so I would recommend not skipping them. We had these noodles with the amazing daikon cakes (pictured) that I mentioned a few days ago, drizzled with soy sauce, from Nook & Pantry’s recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 green garlic stalks, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly crosswise
- half a sweet onion
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 oz. package sliced dried shiitake mushrooms reconstituted according to package instructions -or- 1/4 lb fresh, sliced
- 8 scallions, white part only, sliced thin
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
- an 8- or 9-ounce package soba (buckwheat noodles)
- 1/2 pound pea shoots and and pea greens, chopped in 1” pieces, with any tough twiggy pieces removed
- 1 package silken tofu
How to:
Cut silken tofu in half the long way, sprinkle with soy sauce, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (conveniently, it also takes 30 minutes to drain the daikon for cakes!). Chop or shred (I used a plastic spatula on the baking sheet).
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook green garlic and onion in vegetable oil and sesame oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened, 5-8 minutes minutes. Stir mushrooms and pea shoots and cook 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, soy sauce, and vinegar and cook 1 minute.
Cook noodles in boiling water 4 minutes or according to package directions. Rinse in cold water and drain well.
In a bowl toss noodles with pea shoots and stir in cooked vegetables and shredded tofu. Season mixture with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.
Adapted (extremely loosely) from Epicurious.
