FREE COOKING: Udon Noodles free cooking style!

  

The other day I went to the local food store and saw some things that I had never eaten or cooked before, and Udon Noodles was one of them! When I googled Udon Noodles recipes, all I got were things I knew I could not cook-either I didn't have the ingredients, or was not at all in the mood to eat! Mostly I found soups, which seems these are often used in. 

But the beauty about free cooking is that it's FREE, it's not "limited" by anything. Except for your taste buds of course!

So a pack of these turned out to be enough for two meals for two! They come in three separate parts, and I used two for one recipe and this last one for the second the next day.

First thing I did was cook them to assess the taste/consistency to figure out what combinations could work. I tell yah, when I looked at the nutrition facts I was a little alarmed with the amount of sodium in these noodles alone, so I tried to minimize salt as much as I could to compensate for that.

So here it goes, recipe number one:

Udon Noodles w/ zesty Italian dipping oil

• First I cook the Udon Noodles and drained
  

• Then I stir-fried with a very little bit of olive oil the orange & yellow bell pepper and onion frozen mix. Since they were frozen, I let the water evaporate.

 * WARNING: If you have little children like I do, you know very well that there is no such thing as just "cooking"...you're usually cooking and doing a million things at the same time. So I OFTEN will burn something in the stove-top. Knowing that, I'm learning to "foresee" these unwelcome events, and how to prepare for them. So since I had to leave the side of the stove, I just placed all the veggies on the side of the pan, and let the water accumulate in the middle until it all evaporated! Lo and behold, as soon as I'm back my pan is BLACK! BUT, my veggies were uncontaminated :) So I just took wet paper towel and cleaned the pan, and went on to my cooking, without burned tastes or having to throw that batch out! Gotta learn from your mistakes someday! Although the best would have been to just lower the heat until you return, but I wanted it to be done "quick" and that's what I got :-/

*One other thing...fresh ingredients are always best for cooking!!! They taste better, cook better, look better...better all around!

• Then I added some of the zesty Italian dipping oil to continue to brown them a little. At that point I decided to add some of the steamed purple potatoes I already had in the fridge.

 

• I also added a little bit of water as needed, because I noticed Udon Noodles get very sticky if not moist, so they need to be wet a little. Then they are just perfect! I guess all the extra sodium pays off with the taste! They are quite tasty on their own.

• Added a little bit of salt to taste and lots of fresh cilantro, parsley and green onions. 

The zesty oil made all the difference in this recipe! It gave lots of flavor and a medium-hot spice to it! Very delicious flavored oil! Great on top of just potatoes with herbs as well. 

Voilà! You got yourself Udon Noodles free cooking slyle ;)


The second recipe turned out to be my favorite! VERY easy, quick and delicious :) Can't beat that!

Udon Noodles with olive oil, garlic & basil

• Cooked and drained pasta
• Used my traditional "garlic oil" that seems to make anything taste good!

• Let the minced garlic brown in the hot oil. I used olive oil for the taste. As you can see I use LOTS of garlic! After the oil is hot enough, you can just tilt the pan like that and let the garlic brown in the oil alone, with the heat off. The ones that brown early, you can move them up with a spoon so they don't burn.

• Once garlic is just right-brownish color, little crunchy-you add the noodles and stir it. Heat can be off.
• Then I added salt to taste and dried basil because I did not have any fresh ones! It would have been even better with fresh basil.
• Oh...and I also added some fresh lemon juice on top! Yummm....Paired it with a nice spinach salad, with radish, carrots, walnuts, cranberries and balsamic!

 

 Delicioso!!!