Egg Noodles and Shiitakes With Scallion-Sesame Sauce
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The sauce for this stir-fried tangle of egg noodles, tender mushrooms, ginger and just-wilted spinach packs a little punch. This is a quick and easy lunch or dinner to pull together.
Egg noodles come in lots of sizes; this dish calls for the crinkly, spaetzle-size skinny ones.
Serving size: 3
Time: 45 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SAUCE
- 6 scallions
- 1 tablespoon plain rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste)
FOR THE PASTA
- 7 ounces shiitake mushrooms
- 1 1/2 ounces fresh ginger root
- 6 ounces dried egg noodles (see headnote)
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 10 ounces baby spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoons black and white sesame seeds, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
1. For the sauce: Trim the scallions, then coarsely chop them; transfer to a blender or cuisinart along with the rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, toasted sesame oil and tahini; puree until fairly smooth. (It can hold there while you prep the rest of the dish.)
2. For the pasta: Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Clean the mushrooms and discard their stems (or reserve for making vegetable broth), then cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Peel the ginger and grate with a hand grater or mince fine.
3. Add the egg noodles to the water; reduce the heat to medium and cook according to the package directions (for al dente). Drain.
4. Heat the oil in a wok or medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the mushrooms and ginger; stir-fry for 2 or 3 minutes or until ginger has softened a bit and the mushrooms have released some moisture and have begun to brown.
5. Add the spinach; stir-fry for a minute or two, just until it has wilted a bit, then add the scallion-sesame sauce and egg noodles; stir-fry until everything's coated and warmed through.
6. Divide between individual wide, shallow bowls; sprinkle generously with the black and white sesame seeds. Serve right away.
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