noodles

Of the three dishes we have made since we joined French Fridays with Dorie, this was by far the easiest and the quickest to prepare. This Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles recipe is Asian inspired with an attempt at being Italian. It certainly seems a bit confused. Since I am the only one who would even consider eating the shrimp, I reduced the portion size to just one bowl.

It’s always fun to bring out the wok and the smell of sizzling onions and garlic is a fond scent wafting through the house. Like popcorn in the microwave, it draws peers from around corners with the expectant question “What’s ya makin’?“. But unlike the cheers freshly buttered popcorn, or a Chicken Pad Thai would bring, one mention of mushrooms and shrimp sent everyone scampering away deflated.

Ah well. I continued on.

The ingredients are simple- Chinese Five Spice, sugar, a dash of Cayenne mixed with onions and garlic. A bit of sesame oil, shrimp, mushrooms and noodles. Sounds good right? It has spice, heat, and sweet. But then you throw in a strange homage to Italy in the form of tomato puree and the whole dish takes a nosedive. All of the characteristic Asian flavors were masked by the tomatoes. While I do think the puree was supposed to be the acidic feature- ginger, lime and soy sauce would have made a welcome replacement for the tomato puree.

So while this dish LOOKS great, it isn’t. At least not for me. I wonder what the original dish Dorie’s friend made tastes like. Because I would hope it was better than this recreation and that I made some terrible mistake along the way.

Meanwhile, I will have to make a real stir fry to make up for it.

I cannot share the recipe (and I’d advise you to skip this one anyways)- but you can (and should!) buy the book and cook along with us. It’s great fun! Every Friday we make a new recipe. And I can’t wait for next weeks! For details and to see how others are recreating the dishes from this awesome book, check out the FFWD site.

Buy the book:

P.S. The noodles we used are Banh Pho medium sized. We make Pho and Pad Thai a lot here and have several bags in our pantry at any given time. So we just used them. I don’t think they affected the flavor in any way! I am so looking forward to next week’s dish!

Last week we were invited to a tasting dinner at Niu Noodle House, a new Ramen noodle restaurant that opened about 4 months ago in Greenwich Village.

Do not be fooled by the interior- there are few Asian inspired design elements here. This restaurant’s vibe is modern, eclectic and feels very much like a pub with dark beams combined with funky wallpaper. At the front of the restaurant is a long, well stocked bar. There are a lot of interesting things to look at while you are waiting for your dinner to arrive but you aren’t there for the decor.

Niu Noodle House’s main focus is on creating freshly made soup noodles in a variety of styles, broths and flavors. And this, they do very well!

The menu features appetizers of dim sum, satays and spring rolls. Of the many options, we choose the Flank Steak Spring Rolls, Vegetable Spring rolls and the Special Steam Char Siu Pork Buns to start. Each of the appetizers were better than the last! The Vegetable Spring Rolls were extra crispy and filled with flavorful vegetables. The beef version was packed solid with a well seasoned ground beef. It was almost like a meatball encased in a spring roll wrapper. They were both accompanied by a dipping sauce that had just the right amount of heat to it and wasn’t too overpowering.

The pork buns though, were our favorite! Light, fluffy and filled with tender, juicy slices of pork that melted in your mouth. It was served with the house special Hoisin sauce, pungent and perfectly sweet.

For our main course it was hard to choose from all the varieties of noodle soups on the menu. With the help of our highly skilled and attentive server, she recommended some great choices based on our likes/dislikes. In the end, we picked the Niu Beef Trifecta and the Sangi Chicken.

Soon, large black bowls that were filled to the brim arrived with an abundance of savory delights in them. The Beef Trifecta was filled with homemade thin Ramen noodles, flank steak, short ribs, beef steak, scallions, and a spear of asparagus. The chicken soup had heartier noodles than the beef’s more delicate kind and tasted like a very good chicken soup- one that would seriously kick a cold’s butt. Mushrooms, thin slices of chicken breast, and vegetables were present in every bite.

A special delicacy – a wasabi, tempura battered piece of seaweed floated gracefully on the surface and a side bowl of sweet corn kernels accompanied both of the soups. The broths were both very flavorful and quite delicious. Ari preferred the beef and I loved the chicken, so we can safely say they both were excellent choices. We were hard pressed to leave some behind and not take a doggie bag to go- tempted as we were!

(A cute touch is the cow chopstick holder.)

After all the food we just enjoyed, we were hesitant to order dessert but we were so very glad we did! We shared the Green Tea Shaved Ice Cream. What a treat! A wonderful combination of Green Tea flavor and lightly sented Rose Water topped with Fruit Gels and tiny flavored Lychee balls that had been Spherified – their liquid interior bursting in our mouths. It was a delectable and refreshing way to end a delightful meal.

We are really looking forward to going back and tasting the soup dumplings that the manager strongly recommended we try. And, to have some more of that shaved ice cream! Yum!

Atmosphere:

Modern, Eclectic

Service:

Friendly and attentive

Price:

Moderate (approx. $55 for 2 people-sharing a dessert)

Our Rating (Out of 5 Whisks):