Keeping the Festival Season Alive with Spicy Thai Noodles

Capellini instead of Linguine - My Recommendation

If we ever invite you over for Spicy Thai Noodles, be prepared to excuse yourself from the table at least 3 times. Why? Because you're certain to need to visit our guest bathroom at least that many times to clear your suddenly unclogged sinuses. See, we likes 'em spicy, and spicy is the way my wife and I prepared tonight's version of this delectable dish.

We've always been fans of Singapore Noodles. Usually it's served to us in a paper container four or five beers in at the Wisconsin State Fair. Actually, four or five beers in at just about any Milwaukee festival. 

But what's not to love? You've got noodles, fresh herbs, soy sauce, and for your health, a few vegetables. In fact, it's vegetarian!

I don't think our home-cooked version will ever compete fairly with the State Fair variety, but we're getting closer, and finding it a dish that's fun and interesting to make. By only varying a few ingredients, the noodles can taste very different. 

After picking up a number of fresh peppers--both Thai chili and reds--at the Dane County Farmers' Market last Saturday, we set our sights on trying to create a reasonable facsimile of our Summertime favorite festival food. I found this relatively hacked up recipe on the website Yummly: 

Ingredients:

1 carrot thinly sliced

3 mushrooms thinly sliced

2 tablespoon(s) vegetable broth divided

2 teaspoon(s) fresh garlic minced

1 tablespoon(s) bell pepper chopped

1 chili pepper chopped

1 tablespoon(s) fresh basil chopped

1 teaspoon(s) fresh oregano

8 ounce(s) Linguine cooked al dente (we used Capellini; I suggest you do, too)

2 tablespoon(s) soy sauce

1 teaspoon(s) black or white pepper ground

1 teaspoon(s) sugar

1/2 teaspoon(s) chopped red pepper

1 tablespoon(s) fresh parsley snipped

Preparation:

Sauté garlic in oil over medium high heat in a large pan for about 1 minute, add carrot, sautee two more minutes then add mushrooms, bell pepper, chili pepper, basil, and oregano. Sauté two more minutes. Add cooked linguine and stir. Add remaining ingredients through chopped red pepper, stir until thoroughly mixed. Additional soy sauce may be added to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve with garlic bread. Serves four. 

Don't examine it too closely because the recipe is rather hacked up. Take for instance that vegetable broth. Two tablespoons ... divided? Why are they divided? Where are they used? And why doesn't this recipe ever bring these two lonely tablespoons of vegetable broth back together again?

Freeze 'em!

No matter. This is a good starting point for the dish and whatever you do will probably wind up tasting pretty good. In fact, I forgot the vegetable broth the first time I made it and it was still delicious. (I forgot the parsley also. Things in the kitchen were happening too fast for me!)

Just make sure to use good oil (we used sesame oil the second time ... JACKPOT!) and fresh vegetables for the sauté. You probably can't screw it up, but here's a tip that I got from a little Vietnamese woman at the Dane County Farmers' Market that's really worth knowing:  Freeze Thai chili peppers. Whenever you want to add some spice to your dishes, just take a pepper or two out of the freezer and chop it up finely and throw it in. They'll stay good and fresh in the freezer for a long time.

This tip ... life changing. Something so simple that I've never considered. I'm going to be chopping up little chilis into just about everything now. 

Eggs? Check.

Pizza? Check.

Ice cream? Check. (Hey. Why not? They're already frozen!)

And the best thing: a little Thai chili pepper goes a long way. We chopped two of them into tonight's Spicy Thai Noodles and I only had to excuse myself from the table three times.

They're THAT hot!

So, even though we are entering the cold and non-festival season in Wisconsin, in Wauwotosa we're going to keep the Summer season alive with some spicy noodles and a freezer full of Thai chili peppers. 

Whew. Now please excuse me. I've got a nose to blow.

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Appropriately, a song from Xavier Rudd's "Food in the Belly"

Happy Little Tastebuds

By now, you’ve all seen at least one or one thousand cooking shows on TV. They’re fun -- especially when you get to see the truly inventive and creative at work (Top Chef, I’m talking about you), but the problem is we never get to taste the food! It looks good, but for all we know, it could taste like an old shoe with a gorgonzola crumble and a sprinkle of oregano. Probably not, but I’m just sayin’.

However, at Savory Spoon Cooking School in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, you not only get to observe a master chef -- the delightful Janice W. Thomas -- but you get to work alongside her and her assistant while preparing her delicious recipes with your very own hands!

And let me tell you this: the results are divine.

We were part of a Door County Bike Tour group that visited the Cooking School on a rainy Tuesday morning. The class commenced at 11:00 a.m. and Chef Thomas explained to us what we would be cooking that day. She went over each course, and explained and demonstrated a few tips that we would use in the preparation of each dish.

About noon, our group of 10 split into five groups of two. My wife and I took the appetizer soup course: Chilled Avocado and Cucumber Soup. We picked this course mainly because we were standing nearest to its preparation table. What a nice choice this turned out to be! It required no actual cooking, but a lot of measuring, chopping, blending and preparing and the results were heavenly.

The other four groups split up and made the following (in the order they were served): Fennel and Arugula Salad with Orange Vinaigrette, Baked Salmon with Pistachios and Herbed Panko (one group) alongside Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic (another group), and for dessert Fresh Blueberry Raspberry Tart.

Hungry yet?

By 1 o’clock, the prep tables were cleared and a table was set. We finished the preparation of our chilled soup and the entire group sat down to enjoy lunch. Our soup, which we garnished only moments before, was then served to us nearly as though we were dining at the finest restaurant. Even though we only followed the Chef’s expert advice and recipe, it was hard not to let it go to our heads when we heard everybody taste our soup and say, “Wow! Is that ever good!”

This pretty much continued through the remaining courses where I equally enjoyed each and every one.

What a fun way to spend a day. I doubt I’ve ever had a better lunch and Chef Thomas was such a joy be around. The next time you are planning to be in Door County, be sure to look up the Savory Spoon Cooking School class schedule (on their website) and sign up for one if you can. It’s a ton of fun and your tastebuds will do back-flips!

I should also mention that the Savory Spoon is located in a restored school that was originally built in 1879. The floors in the building are original. Great credit is owed to the Savory Spoon owners for restoring this important Door County, Wisconsin landmark! 

My Wife and I Happily Garnish Our Soup!