dinner plus

I made such a yummy dinner tonight that I have to share the recipe with you. But first... look what came in the mail!

Swapped paper thingies, all the way from France! This was my haul from participating in the Sweet Pea paper & ribbon swap. Thanks to Sofia who sent me a wonderful package full of scrapbooking paper, lacy ribbon and vintage postcards. I can't wait to use them!

So here's what I made for dinner: Tasty Sesame Noodles Plus (the plus stands for mushrooms plus asparagus). This is the kind of thing I can only make when HWWLLB isn't around (he's on his way home from a trip tonight). Both asparagus and sesame are apparently morally offensive to him, as are so many vegetables. *sigh* Luckily he's cute. Anyway, this was a simple dinner but muy tasty.

Serves two as a main dish.

You will need:
1/2 lb noodles (whatever kind you like; I used linguine)
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb button mushrooms (or whatever kind you have)
1/2 lb fresh asparagus

Sesame Sauce (this sauce is from Anne Jackson's wonderful Heart of the Home cookbook)
4 Tbs. sesame oil
4 Tbs. tamari sauce (soy sauce)
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
a few dashes of tobasco or hot chile sauce
1 Tsp. brown sugar

Mix up the sauce and put your noodles on to cook.

Slice the mushrooms and throw them into a hot wok with a little oil. Turn the heat up to med-high and stir the mushrooms til they start to sweat. Before too long the mushrooms will be giving off lots of liquid. Keep stirring til the sweating starts to subside (a few minutes). Turn the heat down to medium-low and pour about two tablespoons of the sesame sauce into the pan. Stir well.

Wash and trim your asparagus. You can cut them down to 1/2 inch long pieces if you want to. Once the noodles are finished cooking, dump them into a colander to strain, and then put about an inch of water into the bottom of the same pot, and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, put in the asparagus, cover, and steam for about 5 minutes (til tender).

Now stick your noodles, the rest of the sesame sauce, and the steamed asparagus into the wok and mix everything thoroughly. You've got a simple and tasty dinner for two. If you want to serve it to company, you could double it and perhaps add some fried tofu or if you're into this kind of thing, some chicken marinated in the sesame sauce.

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I also wanted to respond to all the comments from the last post. For those of you who are dying for the chocolate removal techniques, I'm going to have Flems work up a fuller version and do a guest posting some time soon. Apparently this is a common problem. And thanks to Miz Gray La Gran for the crocheted edgings tip!

By the way... it's Monday, so don't miss out on Bugheart's Great Monday Give-Away. If you're looking for a great new spring vintage wardrobe (and you're a size 6-8), you'll be delighted.