Udon Noodles with Beech Mushrooms & Sea Beans

First, thank you to everyone who left me kind comments on the new blog layout.  I was quite lucky to have an extremely talented Lil' Sis who was willing to help the computer challenged caveman with his blog.  She made the cool header and really gave the blog a clean look.  For more of her work, please click on the icon to the right of the blog, that says Cristina Robles.

Welcome to Noodle Tuesday

 I am a huge fan of noodles.  I love them in all of their lovely incarnations.  Whether you call them noodles, pasta, fideos, or whatnot I am in.  As a person who gets bored quickly I thought I'd take Tuesdays and change the theme weekly, hence why we are on noodles.

I find making my own pasta and breads therapeutic.  I seem to get lost in the act of kneading.  It is pretty mindless, you can put yourself in autopilot and think away.  Sometimes I come up with my best ideas for new BC articles while making doughs.

Organic Type O Artisan Flour (Farina Artigiana Tipo O) is an amazing wheat flour for making pasta.  It is not cheap, but worth every penny.  When making noodles you want to have clean cuts, so it is important to have a good dough cutter or a sharp knife.  Fresh noodles cooks MUCH FASTER than dried.  Depending on the temperature of the liquid it may take but a few seconds.  So take great care not to overcook it.

I enjoy experimenting with Asian flavors and was horridly disturbed when I realized that it had been a minute since I highlighted them.  Luckily last night I rectified this gross oversight on my part.  This dish has a few key ingredients that I would like to highlight...

Organic Hoisin Sauce - Hoisin sauce is a miso based sweet & tangy Chinese sauce.  Featuring ginger, miso, soy, tamarind, and orange juice.  Usually my preferred dipping sauce, in this broth it really makes it presence felt.

Almond Butter - A fantastic alternative to peanut butter.  Be warned this is not the vile stuff sold in supermarkets.  This is a purely organic product that is not cheap.  However, the creaminess it offers this dish is imperative.

Organic Tamari Sauce - I am a big fan of tamari sauce.  I really enjoy using it over fish sauce which would be the alternative here.  This is the salty component without having to use much salt.

Beech Mushrooms - Marx Foods carries a great, vast selection of mushrooms.  Beech are perfect for this course as when cooked they have an awesome nutty flavor.  Do not overcook them though.

Sea Beans - I purchased mine at my local Whole Foods.  These are not beans at all, but thin plants that grow naturally along many coastlines.  These can be salty, so add them in carefully thought out quantities  depending on the needs of your particular dish. 

Udon Noodles with Beech Mushrooms & Sea Beans

For the Udon Noodles

 2 1/2 cups Organic wheat flour

1 tsp sea salt

2/3 cup water

Dissolve the salt in the water.

In a bowl, add the flour. Bit by bit introduce the water with the flour. Slowly incorporating with the hands. Finish adding the water. Mix thoroughly. Turn out the dough on a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic and press to make a thin round. Set dough aside for 2 hours.


Remove plastic. On a floured work surface roll out dough to about a 1/8 inch thickness. Fold the dough in half, and then in half again, into a rectangle. Cut the dough to your desired size. Traditionally udon noodles are about 1/5 inch wide strips.

Sprinkle some flour on the cut noodles to prevent sticking.  Use noodles soon after cutting.  Remember fresh noodles cook much quicker than commercial ones.

For the broth:
8 cups good quality homemade chicken stock
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
5 oz hoisin sauce
2 tbs almond butter
Tamari sauce to taste
9 oz udon noodles
3.5 oz fresh beech mushrooms
1 cup sea beans

In a stockpot, bring the chicken stock to a simmer. Add the ginger, hoisin, and almond butter. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the sea beans and tamari to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes. Check for salt level. Add the beech mushrooms and noodles. Simmer for about 2 minutes. Times may vary. Check the noodles for doneness.

To plate:
Grab your favorite bowl. Add the noodles. Be generous with the flavorful broth you so affectionately made. Garnish with the beech mushrooms and the sea beans.


That’s it for now…till we exchange a few words again…Peace!