2014 Recipe Contest Soba with Collar Steak, Asparagus & Cashews Submitted by Dan Kaplan This is a delicious midweek dish (or Friday night watching Triple D after a long week). It started out as a recipe from Mark Bittman’s VB-6, a book about eating vegan during the day (What I was doing being vegan, even before 6PM, is beyond me. Needless to say salvation arrived in the form of the Mosefund stand at the Montclair Farmer’s Market). I evolved and tweaked Bittman’s recipe and it is now one of our favorites. I use collar steak for this but have also used Mangalista pork loin. Either way pork is the star of the dish and plays off nicely with the salty tamari and the earthy asparagus. As a plus, this is easily a Gluten Free dish: use GF tamari and 100% buckwheat soba. Pairs nicely with any bright, mineraly white or a good Asian-style beer. Serves 2 on its own (with enough left over for lunch) or 4 with another dish. Ingredients .7-.8 lbs. of Mosefund Mangalista Collar Steak or Loin 1 bunch asparagus 8oz buckwheat soba noodles 1/2 cup cashew nuts, toasted 3 cloves of garlic, small dice 2 tbsp. of fresh ginger, small dice Dried hot chili, minced or hot pepper flakes 2 green onions slices thin, green parts only (optional) Marinade: 1.5 tbsp. Mirin or honey 1 tbsp. tamari 1 tbsp. sesame oil 1 tsp. ground black pepper Sauce: 3 tbsp. tamari 1 tbsp. sesame oil Black pepper to taste Put up water to boil for the Soba, a medium sized pot is fine, no need to bring out the big pasta pot. Cut the collar steak into 1/8” slices and then long ways resulting in approximately 1” X 1” X 1/8” pieces. If the pork is frozen, defrost the night before in the fridge. If the pork is still a bit frozen/firm when you start the dish, it actually is easier to cut. Mix together the marinade ingredients in a bowl or dish and coat the sliced pork. This can be done up to a day ahead. Refrigerate the pork if not making the dish right away, otherwise it’s fine to leave out. Slice off the tough ends of the asparagus and then cut into 1” – 2” pieces. Dice the garlic and ginger and mince the chili. The water should be boiling by now. Break the Soba in half and cook in boiling water till al-dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water (it’s nice and starchy!). Drain the noodles and toss in the serving bowl with a tablespoon or so of sesame oil. Heat a large frying pan or wok to high, add a little cooking oil (canola) and pan fry the pork, about 3 minutes a side until it develops a nice caramelized color. Add the garlic, chili and ginger and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove pork mixture and put into a clean bowl (not a good idea to use the marinade bowl). There should be lots of nice brown stuff on bottom of the frying pan (this is the magic!). Return the frying pan to the heat. There should be about a tablespoon of fat from the collar steak (yum!). If much more, drain some off (it’s just fine to err on the side of a bit more), if less, add a bit of canola. Add the asparagus and half of the reserved soba-water. Scrape up and dissolve the brown bits into a sauce that the asparagus cooks in. Cook for about 5 minutes, adding a bit more liquid if its gets too dry. Add the remaining soba-water, soba, pork mixture, cashews and scallions (if using) to the frying pan. Toss constantly for 1-2 minutes. Add sauce and toss / mix thoroughly. Transfer to bowl and serve!
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 19:30:02 +0000
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