A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, where a father and daughter team of food detectives take a dish from your memories and try to recreate it perfectly. I shared about a garlic prawn dish that lives on in my memory which I have never been able to find again.
A few months ago, the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club selected a book called Simply Noodles. As I was flicking through the book, one recipe jumped out at me and we have now made it several times! This is yet another take on my beef, broccoli and oyster sauce flavour combinations. It is a completely different dish, but it is pretty tasty.
In the book there is plenty of information about various topics including different types of noodles, equipment you might need, and different techniques. There are even some suggestions for making instant noodles a bit fancy! The intent is to provide quick, easy, tasty, feel-good recipes.
The recipes are broken into 3 sections. The first section is the Really Easy Noodles (10+ minutes), then Fuss-Free Noodles (20+ minutes) and finally Minimal Effort Noodles (30+ minutes).
Among the recipes I would like to try are:
Midnight Noodles and Dumplings
Non-nuclear Fire Noodles
Sizzling Red Oil Noodles
Bangkok-style Spaghetti
Soy Garlic Butter Prawn Spaghetti
Sticky BBQ Chicken Noodles
Pad See Ew
There are some recipes that I am sure taste good, and might appeal to some readers, but I am not sure that I would ever make a recipe like Chicken Nugget Mazeman. It might be a good way to get kids to try something different though!
Here's the Beef and Broccoli Noodles recipe which we have made multiple times now. In fact, I think I might add it to our menu for next week!
Beef and Broccoli Noodles (Pippa Middlehurst)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 rump steak, thinly sliced
½ head broccoli, broken into florets
2 nests egg noodles or 120g bronze-cut spaghetti
2 tbsp neutral oil
4 garlic cloves, grated
3 spring onions, finely sliced
For the sauce:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp Sichuan chilli oil or Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli Oil
½ tbsp golden caster (superfine) sugar
In a bowl, mix together the cornflour, 1 tbsp water and the light soy sauce. Marinate the steak slices in this mixture, coating well, while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 3-5 minutes until just softened but still green. Scoop out directly into a bowl of ice-cold water. Set aside.
In the same pan, cook the noodles for 2 minutes less than what is stated on the packet instructions. We want them to remain al dente. Strain and rinse under cool water, separating the noodles with your fingers, to prevent them from sticking. Set aside.
Mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside.
Then, heat 1 tbsp of the neutral oil in a wok or non-stick, heavy-based frying pan. Add the steak and cook for 3-5 minutes until browned and caramelised. Remove the steak from the pan and wipe the pan.
Add the remaining 1 tbsp neutral oil to the clean pan and set over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the blanched broccoli and the steak. Toss and cook for 1 minute.
Give the noodles another quick rinse in cool water to make sure they’re not stuck together. Add them to the pan and toss with the veg and beef. Add the sauce, toss to combine, then add the spring onions, toss and let wilt for 30 seconds.
Remove the pan from the heat and serve.
Weekly meals
