A great weeknight veggie dish with big flavours and minimal effort. While it doen’t look like much the udon noodles provide a wonderful counter-balance to the rich, salty, umami packed mushrooms, soy and sesame.
Wine Suggestion: This was a tough one to match and while we would have loved to try a Pinot based Champagne, like Laurent Lequart’s Blanc de Meunier, it was a weeknight and thought this was a bit much. However an excellent value northern Rhône, the Domaine Gerin La Champine Syrah, came to the rescue with an earthy, leathery character full of complementary pepper and pure fruit flavours.
Miso mushrooms with udon noodles – serves 4
3 tbsp miso paste
3 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp sesame oil
4 large portobello mushrooms
450g straight-to-wok udon noodles
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4 scallions, finely sliced
Heat the oven to 180C.
Place the mushrooms on a large sheet of tin foil on a baking tray. Scrunch up the sides to create a sort of bag.
Mix the miso, mirin, soy, garlic and half the sesame oil together until smooth. Pour over the mushrooms and turn them over to coat in the mixture. Scrunch the tin foil to close the packet and bake for 30 minutes.
Just before the mushrooms are ready, get your wok on and heat the remaining splash of sesame oil. Toss the udon noodles in the wok until hot, then divide between 4 bowls. Spoon over the mushrooms and sauce and serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions.
Amazing flavours in this super quick and easy dish. We’re loving pretty much every recipe that Ixta Belfrage has a hand in.
Wine Suggestion: A really hard one to match we thought, but we pulled out Dr Loosen’s Graacher Dry Riesling … a wine he has “declassified” from Grosses Gewächse (Great Growth) as the vines are only 15-20 years old … not old enough for Ernie Loosen! A wine of both elegance and power, with a crispness that balances any oilyness of the mackeral, and joyful fruit to match chillies, limes, soy and star anise.
Mackerel udon – serves 2
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved and seeds scooped out with a teaspoon
2 x 115g tins of mackerel in olive oil, drained and flaked into chunky pieces
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tsp black or white (or both) sesame seeds, toasted
FOR THE DRESSING:
5 tbsp mild olive oil or sunflower oil
40g ginger, peeled and julienned
2 large mild red chillies, finely sliced into rounds (discard the seeds)
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick, bashed with the side of a knife
2 tbsp soy sauce
1½ tbsp maple syrup
¾ tsp toasted sesame oil
Cut the cucumber into half-centimetre diagonal slices. Put the cucumber in a bowl and mix with the flaked salt and lime juice. Set aside to pickle while you make the rest.
Put the udon noodles in a large bowl and, cover with boiling water, then drain well and set aside.
Put a heatproof sieve over a heatproof bowl and set aside.
Put the oil for the dressing into a medium saucepan over a medium heat and allow to get hot. Add the ginger, chillies, star anise and cinnamon and fry gently, stirring often, until the ginger is crisp and golden – about 5 minutes but watch carefully. Drain through the sieve and keep both the oil and the crispy aromatics.
Transfer 3 tbsp of the aromatic oil to a separate bowl along with the soy sauce, maple syrup and sesame oil.
Drain the cucumbers and toss with the warm noodles. Transfer them to a platter and top with the mackerel. Spoon over the dressing, followed by the crispy aromatics, scallions and sesame seeds. Serve with lime wedges on the side.
(Original recipe from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage, Ebury Press, 2022.)
This dish is supercharged when it comes to flavour! We pretty much used every pot, bowl and spoon in the house when making it. The good news is that it is easy to do plenty of prep in advance, which will make it easier when entertaining.
Jules was a bit anti-tofu before ordering a tofu dish number of years ago in Dennis Cotter’s famous vegetarian restaurant in Cork, Café Paradiso. She figured if he couldn’t make it nice it wasn’t worth having; and was duly converted. If you’re a tofu novice then we recommend you try this dish by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage, it’s certainly not dull.
Wine Suggestion: When matching such a full-flavoured, aromatic and savoury dish you need a corresponding characterful wine. Chateau du Hureau’s Argile Saumur Blanc proved itself up to the task. A strident, dry Chenin Blanc the citrussy, crisp apple flavours provided a wonderful counterpoint and the savoury, mineral texture danced along with the food.
Udon Noodles with Fried Tofu and Orange Nam Jim – serves 4
600g pre-cooked udon noodles
10g Thai basil leaves
3 scallions, finely sliced into long strips
10g coriander leaves, finely sliced
2 red chillies, finely sliced into long strips
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
FOR THE FRIED TOFU:
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 ½ tbsp sunflower oil
350g firm tofu, press to remove any water, pat dry, then cut into bite-sized pieces
4-5 blood oranges or regular oranges – juice them to get 160ml of orange juice, then serve the dish with some orange wedges if you like
20g tamarind paste (if you make this from the block of tamarind you will need about 40g see method in note below)
2 ½ tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp soy sauce
40g banana shallot, finely diced
5g coriander, finely chopped
Start by marinating the tofu. Mix the garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, 1 tbsp of sunflower oil and ¼ tsp of salt in a dish that can hold the tofu pieces in a single layer. Add the tofu and toss gently to coat in the marinade. Leave for 30 minutes to 1 hour, turning halfway through.
Next, make the nam jim. Put the rice into a small saucepan over a medium-high heat and toast for 2 ½ minutes. Add the aleppo chilli and toast for another 30 seconds, until fragrant. Transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind to a coarse powder. Put the ground rice mixture into a medium bowl, then add the orange juice, tamarind, fish sauce, maple syrup, soy sauce, shallot and coriander. Mix together, then pour into a large sauté pan over a medium-high heat and cook gently for a couple of minutes, until warm. Add the noodles and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Remove the noodles and sauce from the pan and set aside while you fry the tofu, you want it at room temperature to serve.
Heat 1 ½ tbsp of the oil in a large, non-stick pan over a medium-high heat until very hot, then add half the tofu, making sure it’s spaced apart. Fry for 1 ½ to 2 minutes on each side or until crispy and golden brown. Set aside while you fry the rest. Stir any remaining tofu marinade into the noodles.
Toss the basil, scallions, coriander leaves and chillies with the noodles, then transfer to a serving platter with a lip. Serve with the tofu and sesame seeds on top. Serve with some orange wedges if you like.
NOTE: to make tamarind paste from a block mix a small piece, about 120g, with half this quantity, 60ml, of lukewarm water. After a few minutes mix together again, adding a touch more water if you need so the pulp falls away from the seed. Pass through a fine sieve. Can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.
(Original recipe from Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage, Ebury Press, 2020.)
We can think of nothing nicer to eat than a bowl of slurpy noodles. Perfect for a speedy lunch or snack.
Wine Suggestion: a friend has suggested that there are brilliant saki matches for dishes like this that play with the umami but we’ve not tasted enough to suggest which one. However, we really liked a couple of wine options: a Lustau dry Oloroso, a Deux Montille Rully Blanc or a Tyler Pinot Noir from California. In each case they have a wonderful textural vibrancy that this dish needs.
Udon noodles with shiitake mushrooms and spring onions – serves 2
125g dried egg noodles
1½ tbsp sesame oil
1½ tbsp groundnut oil
200g shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced
6 scallions, finely sliced on the diagonal
few coriander springs, leaves picked
2½ tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)
2½ tbsp soy sauce
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, salt generously and cook the noodles for the time given on the pack. Drain and run under cold water, then stir through a few drops of sesame oil and groundnut oil to stop them from sticking.
Heat the oils over a high heat in a wok or frying pan. Add the mushrooms and cook until starting to soften. Add the scallions, nam pla, soy sauce and noodles. Heat stirring until the noodles are glazed with the sauce.
Serve sprinkled with the coriander.
(Original recipe from Leiths How to Cook by Claire Macdonald and Jenny Stringer, Quadrille, 2013.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 