Day 8: It's not Alphafa, It's Buckwheat!

Steve:  Every once in a while you stumble upon an ingredient that ends up becoming a staple in your diet.  It may be a different type of fruit or vegetable.  It may be a new type of fish.  It could even be something you had never heard of down the frozen food aisle.  Today, it is the secret ingredient.

Day 8 Ingredient:  Soba or Japanese Buckwheat Noodles

Most commonly used in Asian dishes with things like stir fry, these noodles are a healthier alternative to the white noodles we eat most of the time here in the states.  They can be found in the Asian section of the supermarket and I highly recommend that you try them.  I am glad that we added them to our diets.

For the meal today I didn't want to just use these in a typical Asian dish, nor did I want to use them as a substitute for spaghetti in some random Italian concoction.  I was inspired by an old episode of 30 minute meals.  I don't remember the recipe, but I remembered the technique that Rachel Ray used to fry the noodles on the bottom of a cast iron skillet.  When turned over the noodles were golden brown and crispy.  I decided to try it. 

Day 8 Ingredients:

8 oz Soba Noodles
4 Shallots Cut in half and thinly sliced
8 oz Sliced White Mushrooms
4 Minced Cloves of Garlic
4 Tablespoons Cream Cheese (I used Laughing Cow)

1 Flank Steak
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Instructions

1. Prepare Soba Noodles according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

2.  Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.  Heat Cast Iron Skillet over Medium/High Heat.  Season steak with drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.

3.  Sear steak on both sides for 2 minutes or until brown.  Place in different pan and cook in oven for 5-7 minutes or until steak is at desired doneness.

4.  Add a little more olive oil to skillet and add shallots 5-7 minutes or until brown.  Remove to separate bowl and repeat with the mushrooms and garlic.  Transfer to bowl with shallots.

5.  In skillet as cream cheese and allow to melt.  Pour over shallots and mushrooms.  Add Soba noodles to the mixture and stir until combined. 

6.  Place entire mixture back into skillet and top with heavy pan with weight on top.  Cook for 7-10 minutes. 

7.  Carefully place plate upside down on top of skillet and flip.  Hopefully the crispy noodles will come right out of the pan, but if not remove them to the plate with wooden spoon. 

8.  Slice steak against the grain and place on top of noodles.  Top with Parsley.  Serve (Makes 4 Servings)

I really liked this dish.  The crispy noodles were delicious and the cheese, mushrooms and shallots  made the dish taste wonderful.  I like using flank steak in dishes like this because you can cut it against the grain, sliced very thin and it makes for the perfect bite with the pasta.  I think there are some corrections to be made that I will have to work on next time, but I did correct some things in the directions, so try it as is. 

Heather:
Taste-4 stars: Creativity-4 stars

As for taste, this was a yummy dish. At first, it kind of reminded me of a dish the dining facility served when I was deployed. It was called Yakisoba and consisted of spaghetti noodles but had ground beef, onions and green peppers. Steve's version is better. I liked the flank steak pieces, they were savory, even though I thought he used the leftover pork from yesterday. Never mind, don't ask.

I know I don't grade on appearance, but that would be one critique I would offer because there isn't much color to the dish. Some of the ingredients also didn't get distributed throughout the dish. For example, I didn't even know there was laughing cow cheese in it until I reached a clump where it had all gathered.

And for creativity, it was creative in the fact that he didn't do an Asian dish. He remembered something he saw before and made it his own. So proud! Love you, baby!