Recipe: sichuan pork noodles

My coworker and fellow food-enthusiast, Caroline, forwarded me this recipe for sichuan pork noodles from Lynne Rossetto Kasper's weekly newsletter, "Weeknight Kitchen," which includes recipes from her NPR show "The Splendid Table." The recipe had been reprinted in her newsletter with permission from a new America's Test Kitchen cookbook, "The Best Simple Recipes: More Than 200 Flavorful Foolproof Recipes That Cook in 30 Minutes or Less." I mention that in case Christopher Kimball is reading this and thinks I am infringing his copyright. I have their original cookbook, "The Best Recipe," and I use it all the time, so I'm sure this new one is great.

Since I have become a big fan of NPR lately (still no TV - hopefully it will return next Wednesday), I thought it would be fun to make these noodles, especially since I rarely cook anything with asian flavors. Also, it looked easy and it was!

Here's the recipe, which serves 4:

1 pound ground pork

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce*

1 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup peanut butter**

3 tablespoons oyster sauce***

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

1 pound fresh chinese noodles (whatever that means) or linguine****

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

*I could not find anything called "chili-garlic sauce" at the store. So instead I used one tablespoon of siracha (spicy thai chili paste) with 1 clove of grated garlic.

**I used chunky peanut butter and think that was the way to go since it added little crunchy peanut bits to the sauce.

***Yes, this actually contains oyster extract, but don't worry, it's not at all fishy tasting.

****I used Barilla Plus spaghetti. It has added protein (from egg whites), fiber (from multi-grain and legume flour), and omega-3 fatty acids (from ground flaxseeds) and I think it tastes the same as regular old pasta.

1. Bring a large pot of salty water to boil. Meanwhile, combine ground pork, two tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and chili-garlic sauce in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk broth, peanut butter, oyster sauce, remaining vinegar, and remaining soy sauce.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pork mixture and cook until the pork is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth mixture and simmer until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.

3. Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Add cooked pasta directly to pork mixture and toss, adding additional cooking water if you need more liquid. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

I am a praise hound and frequently ask Judd to compliment my cooking. One of my more commonly-posed questions is whether or not a particular dish is "restaurant quality." Last night, Judd opined that the noodles were good enough to be featured in a restaurant, but he wasn't sure what kind of restaurant, since they didn't really look or taste like something you'd find at a chinese restaurant. I agreed. But they were still delicious and really flavorful.

Since there were no vegetables in these noodles, I decided to make spicy sauteed asparagus and snap peas. I cut up one bunch of raw asparagus into 2-inch pieces and sauteed it with about 1/2 a pound of sugar snap peas and a large pinch of crushed red pepper flakes in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes. I drizzled a little sesame oil and soy sauce over the vegetables in the last minute. They were great - still crunchy and bright green.

I have lots of leftovers, some of which I imagine Judd will eat for breakfast today. He is a self-described "healthy vegetarian," after all.