Chilled Capellini with Tomato& Basil

Other than pasta salad, have you had pasta served cold?  In Japan, "Chilled Capellini (angel hair pasta) with Tomato" is quite a popular dish many Italian-style restaurants serve during summer time. Apparently this is not an authentic, traditional Italian dish..  But nowadays, I heard some restaurants in Italy serve cold pasta dishes, inspired by Japanese cold noodle dishes...Kind of like California Rolls which is no way traditional / authentic Japanese, but recently gaining popularity in Japan.
Anyways, I love noodles, and I like them cold especially on the hot summer day. This recipe uses roasted tomatoes, which you prep the night before (super easy, you just have to turn on the oven!) and chilled overnight. Tossed with fresh basil, you know you have a winner. Simple, fabulous, refreshing, wonderfully tomato-icious ; P


Ingredients (enough for 4 people):
1 (796 ml/ 28fl oz) Canned Diced tomato
2-3 TBS Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (or as much as you like)
1 tsp  salt

1. Place the chopped basil and the salt in a large bowl.
2.Drain the juice from the can, and place the diced tomato in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil and minced garlic.
3.Spread the tomatoes out in a baking pan or cookie sheet in single layer, and roast at 400F for 25-30 minutes.
4. Scoop the tomatoes directly into the bowl with the basil. Toss to mix. Chill overnight or at least 2-3 hours until the tomatoes are completely chilled.

Pasta (Capellini, 80-100g per person)
1. Cook capellini (or angel hair pasta) al dente.
2. Drain the pasta into a colander, while running a cold water onto the pasta. Leave the water running for a while over the pasta. Once the pasta is cool enough to touch, take handfuls and gently swish and rub them in the running water, as if you are washing the noodles. The goal here is not just to get the noodle ice cold, but to get rid of the starchiness from the noodles.
4. Very important! Drain the excess water from the pasta really well. 
5. Add the drained pasta to the bowl with the tomato & basil. Toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper, and if you like, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Serve very cold.

Bukkake Udon Noodles

It finally feels like summer here! After what seems like months of endless rain and cloud, I was starting to wonder if we will be getting any summer..., but temperatures are rising & sunshine is here : )  I skyped with my Mom today - she said the temperature there (Nara, Japan) is 35 C and humidity is close to 70%..  Summer in Japan is very hot & humid..
To beat the summer heat, I decided to make Bukkake Udon for dinner. It is basically cold Udon noodles, splashed with soy sauce based dashi broth and a few toppings. Cold noodles is a very popular dish in Japan, especially during the hot and humid summer time.

Ingredients:

Udon Noodles (please use the frozen or dry one.. not the one packed in the vacuum sealed package... they are awful... )
Broth (enough for 4 people):
3 TBS Japanese Soy Sauce
2 TBS Mirin
1 tsp   Sugar
a pinch of Salt
200ml Water
1 tsp   Dashi powder * see note below

1. Mix Soy sauce, mirin, sugar and salt in a pot and bring to the boil.
2. Once it is boiled, turn off the heat and add water and dashi powder. Stir until the dashi powder is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool. (or if you can, make this in advance and keep it in the fridge. It's best served cold)
3. Cook the udon noodles according to the package instructions. Once the noodles are cooked,  quickly drain the noodles into a colander, while running a cold water onto the noodles. Leave the water running for a while over the noodles. Once the noodles are cool enough to touch, take handfuls and gently swish and rub them in the running water, as if you are washing the noodles. This is a critical step- the goal here is not just to get the noodle ice cold, but to get rid of the starchiness from the noodles.
4. Drain the excess water from the noodles and place the noodles in a bowl.
5. Pour the broth and top with desired toppings.

Suggested toppings:
Green onion, chopped
Grated fresh ginger
Roasted sesame seeds
Grated daikon (type of radish that is white and long. In my local grocery store, it is called Lo Bok)
Tempura (any kind, but prawns are my favorite)

*about Dashi

Dashi is a Japanese soup stock that is used in a variety of Japanese dishes.  Dashi is made by boiling dry bonito fish flakes  and kombu (type of kelp). Just like the chicken stock powder / cubes, dashi powder is available to make dashi much easier / quicker. - I used the dashi powder in this recipe. Dashi powder is available in many Asian grocery stores, or if you cannot find it, I've just discovered that it is available at the Amazon.com

Pan Fried Noodles with Stir Fried Vegetables



wonderful aroma to this dish.

Quick, easy, vegetable-packed, and super tasty...! It's a great way to clean out the fridge and use up any lingering vegetables.  Some call this "Hong Kong Style" Fried Noodles. Noodles are pan-fried until crispy, and topped with varieties of vegetables in oyster gravy sauce.

You can use less oil to make it even healthier. Just a drip of sesame oil will bring
Ingredients:


Chinese dry noodles or Hong Kong Style Noodles
Vegetables of your choice (suggestoin: Bok Choy, Yu Choy, Carrot, Red Bell Pepper, Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, Bamboo shoots, Black Fungus, Mushroom, Onion,, Baby Corn etc. ) - anything you like!
Sliced pork and / or Tiger Prawns 
*Can be done without meat. 


1. Mix together the oyster sauce, soy sauce and 1 cup of water in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 TBS of water and 1 TBS cornstarch.


2. Add sesame oil (about 1TBS) to a heated frying pan.  Add the noodles.  Using chopsticks, stir constantly so that noodles are browned evenly.  If the noodles are too dry and too hard to separate, add 1TBS water or so to break apart the noodles. You can cover the pan after adding water, just to kind of steam cook the  noodles (so they come apart and be easy to fry).  Press the noodles against the pan, and if you need to, add some more oil to brown the noodles.  I like mine a bit crispy, so I like to fry the noodle until a bit dark brown. The crispy part goes really well with the sauce ; )


3. Once the noodles are fried (brown and crispy), remove from the pan and set aside.


4. In a wok or frying pan, heat sesame oil (about 2tsp or less) and add ginger. Stir fry until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add pork and prawns (if using) and all the vegetables and stir fry until they are cooked. 


5. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. When the sauce thickens (it doesn't take very long!), turn off the heat. Pour it over the fried noodles.