Eye for a Recipe

This delicious, salty spicy dish from the New York Times comes together quickly, making it ideal for a quick supper. Combine red-pepper flakes with soy sauce and sesame oil. Cook orange rind and peanuts in oil and then pour over the red-pepper mixture to create a chile oil. While you cook the noodles, cook ground chicken until browned and cooked through. Remove the orange rind from the oil, add the oil to the cooked chicken in the pan, add the noodles and toss to coat. Cook’s note: I used spaghetti noodles instead of udon noodles and chopped scallions instead of chives.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the red-pepper flakes, peanuts and noodles do not contain additives or preservatives. I used tamari instead of soy sauce and Spectrum Natural sesame oil.

Combine red-pepper flakes, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Cook orange rind and peanuts in oil

Add rind and peanuts to red-pepper-flake mixture to create a chile oil

Spread ground chicken across the bottom of the skillet and cook until browned and cooked through

Remove rind from chile oil and then add oil to cooked chicken. Add noodles, toss to combine and then serve, topped with chives or scallions

Ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) red-pepper flakes

1 ½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) low-sodium soy sauce

1 ½ teaspoons (7.5 ml) toasted sesame oil, plus more as needed

Kosher salt and black pepper

½ cup (125 ml) plus 1 tablespoon (15 ml) neutral oil, like grapeseed or canola

6 tablespoons (90 ml) roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Rind of ½ orange, peeled into 2- to 3-inch (5- to 7.6-cm) strips

1 pound (454 g) ground chicken

10 to 12 ounces (285 to 340 g) ramen or udon noodles, preferably fresh

3 tablespoons (45 ml) finely chopped chives

Preparation:

In a medium heatproof bowl, stir together the red-pepper flakes, soy sauce and sesame oil. Set next to the stovetop.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch/30 cm) skillet over medium heat, cook the ½ cup oil, peanuts and orange rind, shaking the pan occasionally, until the peanuts are golden and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes. Immediately pour the contents of the skillet over the red-pepper mixture (be careful of splattering!) and set aside. (Once cool, the chile oil will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks in an airtight container.)

Meanwhile, in the same skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon (15 ml) oil over medium-high. Add the chicken and press it down with a wooden spoon into a thin layer. Season with salt and a generous amount of black pepper and cook, without stirring, occasionally pressing the layer of chicken down, until the bottom is browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Break the chicken up into small pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more.

While the chicken cooks, cook the noodles according to package directions, until chewy but not soft. Drain and toss with a bit of sesame oil.

Remove and discard the orange rind from the chile oil. Off the heat, add the chile oil to the chicken and stir to coat, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Top with chives and serve at once. Serves 4.

From the New York Times

This recipe from Canadian Living calls for udon noodles — thick white flour noodles used in Japanese cuisine — but any long pasta goes well with this medley of seafood and vegetables.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the seafood has no sulfites added and that the scallops are dry – meaning they are untreated with preservatives and sear well. I can’t find additive-free oyster sauce, so I have included a recipe below.

Use the larger, "dry" scallops and pat the seafood dry with a paper towel before cooking

Cook the seafood and set aside

Stir fry remaining ingredients and add the seafood back in to heat through

Stir-fried seafood noodles

Ingredients:

4 tsp (18 ml) vegetable oil

225 g jumbo shrimp, (21 to 25 count), peeled and deveined

225 g jumbo scallops, (20 to 40 count), patted dry

1 tbsp (15 ml) minced peeled fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pkg (each 200 g) fresh udon noodles

4 heads Shanghai bok choy, (about 450 g total), cut in ½ -inch (1 cm) wedges

2 cups (500 ml) sliced stemmed shiitake mushrooms

1 sweet red pepper, thinly sliced

2 green onions, sliced diagonally in ½ -inch (1 cm) thick pieces

2 tbsp (30 ml) oyster sauce (see recipe below)

¼ tsp (1 ml) pepper

Oyster sauce

1 ½ tbsp (25 ml) soy sauce

1 tbsp (15 ml) sugar

1 ½ tsp (7 ml) cornstarch

Preparation:

Pat shrimp and scallops dry with a paper towel. In large nonstick skillet or wok, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; cook shrimp and scallops, stirring frequently, just until shrimp are pink and scallops are opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove to plate; set aside.

In same skillet, heat remaining oil over medium-high heat; cook ginger and garlic, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add noodles, bok choy, mushrooms, red pepper, green onions and 2/3 cup (150 ml) water; cook, stirring, until noodles are softened, about 4 minutes. Add shrimp, scallops, oyster sauce and pepper; cook, stirring, until combined. Serves 4.

From Canadian Living