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Features Editor: Matt Hickman 515-4612 features@svherald.com Wednesday October 15, 2014
Oodles and oodles of noodles I
nspired by the “Empty Bowls” project and the beautiful bowls I got at Art in the Park a few weeks ago, I decided to dedicate this week’s column to one of my favorite types of bowl food. There is something so settling about a meal in a bowl, and with soup season gearing up, it seemed like good timing. I have been known to say, “I am feeling noodle-y.” Although just about every culture has a noodle, I am usually hankering for some kind of Asian Noodle in a bowl when this feeling comes. The balance of salty, sour, and sweet flavors — common in a lot of Asian cooking — are deeply satisfying. The therapeutic effect of garlic and ginger, ever-present in these dishes, make eating feel like a form of care-taking during cold season. I think, having lived in Thailand from ages 2 to 4, there is an element of comfort to noodles for me. The child in me loves that these meals in a bowl require both a spoon and chopsticks to eat — somehow thrilling. There are oodles of noodles in the world. They can be made from wheat, rice, buckwheat (not wheat, actually), and these days a host of other grains in response to what I’ll call, the new disinterest in wheat. Since they are a pantry item and cook quickly, they are our friends come dinnertime, when we haven’t planned well or are pooped. They are an inviting blank culinary slate to paint at the end of long day. With one pot to cook, and just a few bowls to eat from, cleanup is easy. Having had the convenience of a large Chinatown nearby for so many years in New York, I naturally got to know a whole lotta
IF YOU GO… The seventh annual Empty Bowls Project fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, inside the Ethel Berger Center. Entrance, to include a meal of soup and bread is free, though a $10 donation is suggested and also entitles the participant to select a handmade bowl to take home.
noodles due to my fondness for ethnic foods, and a great sense of adventure with cooking. I generally have about five different types of noodle in my cupboard at any given time, which I find reassuring. I loved the scene in the movie “Mr. Mom” when Michael IVE TO EED Keaton makes rice noodles in a wok for CHEF CHRIS the first time, and is more than a bit surprised by their quadrupling in size when they hit the hot wok. I desperately wanted to make them after seeing the movie, although, I have only made Mee Krob, a Thai dish made with those proliferating rice noodles, once. Hollywood being all about dramatizing things, they didn’t take over the entire cooktop as Mr. Keaton’s did, but it was still serious fun. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago I was happy to hear about the “International District” in Seattle. After going, however, I realized they must just be too politically correct to call it Chinatown. The response when I mentioned this was, “well, they have things other than Chinese!” Yes, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Philipino, aka, in New York, Chinatown. Everybody knew what it meant. I was overjoyed to find a giant market with row upon row of items from every nook of Asia. I was able to get what I needed, and that’s what recovering New Yorkers worry about. My bowls
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would be full. Although we had some exposure to Asian cuisine in cooking school, most of my experience with it was elsewhere. On a vacation to Thailand in the ’90s I took a series of cooking classes in Chiang Mai that grounded me in basic Thai cuisine, and brought back some mind blowing early childhood food memories. When I returned from an inspiring trip to Japan I took a week-long intensive course in Japanese cooking, but I also learned a lot from my hostess in Tokyo, whom I dubbed the Martha Stewart of Japan. She made her own noodles, plum wine, soap, and more. While I have studied some forms of Asian cookery, I have also just gotten out a recipe or ingredients and played. Being like a child at play is a recipe for enjoyment in general, but especially good advice in the kitchen. I won’t claim to be an expert in noodles, just an avid consumer with a lot of experience. Many cultures have absolutes with regard to aspects of their cuisine, and there are some rules about noodles you may have encountered. Most packages of noodles will indicate a cook time. Some will say, you must cook the noodles separately, never do this, or always do that. They may be right. But if you start with garlic and ginger, throw in a noodle of some kind, and finish with chopped scallions, I bet your bowl will be filled with something tasty and probably good for you.
QUICK VIETNAMESE PHO (Noodle Soup) Make this with thin strips of beef or chicken, shrimp or tofu. Simply brown (except tofu) in soup pot first, then remove to a bowl. Return to the pot after broth is yummy and ready to serve. Use frozen cooked shrimp thrown in the last minute before serving on a busy weeknight. You could make this with any type of noodle (follow cooking instructions on the package), but it might not technically be Pho any more. You may also add other vegetables, such as broccoli or cabbage. 4 servings 1 medium onion, sliced 5 cups broth (vegetable, beef or chicken) 1 pinch cinnamon 2 star anise 3 inch piece ginger, thinly sliced 2 carrots, sliced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 8 oz. rice stick noodles 2 fistfuls of bean sprouts ½ bunch scallions, chopped ½ bunch cilantro, chopped 1 lime, cut into wedges 2-4 tbsps fish or soy sauce Sriracha sauce, as needed To make the broth, heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and let brown, stirring occasionally, until golden. Add the broth and stir up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the cinnamon, star anise, ginger, carrots and garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let cook 15 minutes. Add fish sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning. While the broth is simmering, soak noodles in warm water for 15 minutes. Arrange, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro and lime wedges on a plate. Add noodles to the broth and ladle into bowls. Divide broth between bowls and serve immediately, allowing guests to add to their bowls from the plate
CHEF CHRIS is a former chef in New York City, who’s worked in catering, restaurants and has authored cookbooks. She’s been a resident of Sierra Vista since May.
Empty Bowls is coming up Organizers of this year’s Empty Bowls Project hope to raise between $15,000 and $20,000 and, while they don’t publicly say it’s their goal, a poster at the pottery studio reads like a rising thermometer, with the top line representing 2,000 bowls. Benefiting local food banks, the event is the localization of an international concept that has been replicated in many, many communities over nearly 25 years. In each case, the money is raised locally and distributed locally.
Proceeds will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, the Sierra Vista Salvation Army Food and Nutrition Program, and the Chaplain’s Food Locker on Fort Huachuca (and possibly others). To find more about the global Empty Bowls Project, visit www. EmptyBowls.net.