Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Noodling

Tomato and Basil Cold Noodle SoupDSC_4601

I quite like watching documentary films on Netflix such as ones from Animal Planet. I was alarmed by ‘Forks over Knives’ . Can I stick to a plant based diet for the rest of my life?…probably not…the opposition is too great in my household…What can you expect from a farm boy, right? (Not an) As You Wish situation here…and I’m not ready to commit either.

I could make small changes however, ‘eat less’ meat for a number of reasons. Today’s recipe is just that. And the weather is cooperating and this is something easy and refreshing for a meal on a warm summer evening.

Ingredients and Instruction for 2 to 4 servings (Print Recipe Here)DSC_4584 

  • 600ml of water
  • 1 cube of vegetable bullion , for those who prefer a stronger taste, 2 cubes
  • 2 Tablespoons of sake
  • 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
  • Angel hair pasta (I used half package)  Note: For gluten free recipe, use rice noodle.DSC_4603
  • 3-5 tomatoes,stem removed and cut in wedges or chunks
  • 6-8 basil leaves, roughly chopped if the leaves are large
  • 3 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  1. Pour water in sauce pan, add vegetable bullion, sake and lemon juice bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Leave in a pan until it cools to room temperature then transfer to refrigerator to chill.. Note: You could use ready made vegetable stock/broth in place of water and bullion.DSC_4586 
  2. Cook angel hair pasta according to the package. When it’s done, drain and rinse with cold water. Set asideDSC_4588
  3. Mix tomato and basil with olive oil and salt in a bowl. Set aside.DSC_4589
  4. Assemble by piling up pasta in a dish then add tomato and basil mixture on top, don’t  forget to add the liquid left in the bowl, then pour some chilled vegetable soup over and finally top with ground black pepper. More salt and pepper to taste if needed.IMG_1375

 

Our project for last 3-4 weeks – making Fruits Enzyme Extract - basically fermented fruits (in this I used apples, kiwis, oranges and carrots).DSC_4304Three weeks later, it turned to umber color and bubbling…DSC_4563DSC_4565 

Diluted with water is easiest way to use it. I wasn’t sure for food safety though…Here honey, drink it all up! Good, right?IMG_1374

Then my husband used the juice in kefir pancakes…mmmm, not so angry bird!IMG_1366

I used the fruits pulp paste to make ice cream. The texture is quite interesting.DSC_4605

The cook book clamed that fruits enzyme makes you beautiful and look younger from inside (your body). I don’t see that result yet but this is expensive to make. The key ingredient is the special sugar, which cost nearly 10 bucks and you need two bags.  Ah oh! Seems like someone forgot to spell check…’beet’ not ‘beat’ I guess you can beat the argument that the sugar turn sucrose into beneficial glucose in the process which is an energy source for your brain. No I’m not sugar coating the facts.DSC_4289

My husband spent a couple of hours and thinned one Asian pear tree. Three more to go. What? You missed the bucket? With all of them?IMG_0909

Have a happy July!

16 comments:

  1. A fresh and delicious noodle dish! I love raw tomato sauce. An interesting way of preserving apples.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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    1. Thank you Rosa. Mmmm...your photographs are so delicious!

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  2. The noodle looks light yet very flavourful and tasty.
    What are you going to do with all the pears?

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    1. Thank you very much Angie. All the thinned pears are going into the compost bin. Your poppy and peach vinaigrette looks fantastic.

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  3. WOW! That's a lot of Asian pears on the ground!! Mmmmm.... that's a big miss indeed! Kidding aside, I'm really envious of your asian pear...I want such tree in our garden too but I don't think I could get those here!!
    Your fruit enzyme extract project is very interesting...I also want to be beautiful like you, but I don't think we could get this beat sugar here either!!
    But I can definitely copy and make that refreshing noodles..thanks for sharing:)
    BTW, thank you too for leaving us a new Japanese word "natsukashii"...me and the girls were struggling with it for a while but we got in hammered in by now:)

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    1. Thank you Anne. You're amazing and you and your family are very hard workers!

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  4. Your pasta dish looks very oishiiii, but the fruit enzyme is what really caught my interest . . . AND you made ice cream with the pulp too!!!

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    1. Thank you Jalna! I can't wait to see your next metamorphosis video, fascinating!

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  5. I could never become vegetarian either, but since chicken is my "default" meat, I don't harm the planet (or my body) too much ;-)
    Your pasta looks delicious, especially in the full tomato season it must be amazing. The fruit enzymes project sounds very mysterious...
    Lucky you to have so many Asian pears... I only get them here imported from as far as China, so I rarely buy them...

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    1. Thank you Sissi. Ha ha ha, I love 'default' meat too.

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  6. パスタも美味しそうだし、なんてたって、あのFruit Enzyme Extract、面白そう!なんか飲む時ちょっとびびっちゃいそうだけど、でも、こういうの作って色々試してみたい!楽しそう!明美さんご夫婦は二人でお料理したり、とても楽しそう!私も主人とそんなまったりした時間を味わえる日が来るのかしら…。お二人見てて(というかブログ読んでて)なんだか微笑ましいです~。

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    1. ありがとうなみちゃん。フルーツ酵素エキスはかなり甘いです。 お酒になってないか、毎回飲む時チェックしてます。 そうだったら捨てなくてはいけないから、勿体ないよね。
      なみちゃんは若いのに、そうとうブログ頑張ってるね。あちこち旅も出来て素晴らしい! というか、お子さんたちが成長していくのが早い!ビックリ!

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  7. looks great and the fruit enzyme extract is new to me

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    1. Thanks Rebecca! There are many recipes available for fruits enzyme extract...getting very popular among Japanese.
      I enjoyed your trip to Boston post very much!

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  8. What a healthy, simple and delicious cold noodle salad!!!
    i just brought purple basil and can't wait to give this recipe a try...

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    1. Thank you so much. I was impressed by your fantastic dishes...like wow!

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