Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ants on a Tree

Menu: Ants on a Tree; Stir-Fried Green Beans; Sliced Apples

Lessons learned:
  1. Easy on the heat while the noodles are cooking.
  2. Don't forget the ginger.
  3. Don't forget the bean sprouts!
  4. Don't forget the brown sugar!!
I know.  "Ants on a tree" is not the most appetizing name for a recipe.  But it's really good if you can find the right balance of flavors, and I love it because it doesn't require pre-soaking the rice noodles.  Apparently, the name comes from the way the ground meat looks on the rice noodles in the original recipe.  I don't know who would want to be thinking about ants while they're eating, but the name stuck in our house.

I've made this a lot so I don't use a recipe anymore, but it's been a while so unfortunately I forgot some things.  I forgot the ginger until the noodles were already soft.  I forgot the bean sprouts until after I had already garnished with cilantro (the picture below is pre-sprout).  And I forgot the brown sugar entirely.  It was still tasty, though, and hopefully I'll get back into practice.


The original recipe calls for cooking the noodles in chicken broth, but I will often use vegetable broth, depending on what I have on hand.  I'm very partial to Wolfgang Puck's chicken broth, ran out of it a while ago, and it wasn't available at the last store where I was shopping.  What they did have was mushroom broth, which I thought could be good.  I went ahead and bought it to use here.  It was tasty, but I'm not sure I want to use it again because my protein is Quorn, which is made from fungus like mushrooms, and I don't want to overdo that element.

I wanted to dress the green beans with Ginger-Hoisin Vinaigrette, but I ran out and didn't have it together enough to make more.  The rice noodles have a lot of soy sauce, so it wasn't my first choice to use it on the veggies as well, but it was the easiest and most reliably tasty thing I could think of to do.


I'm so happy: this is the second meal in a row that Ben has eaten as is, the same way John and I eat it.  He loves flavored noodles!  AND he tried his green beans and liked them!  So he ate pretty much everything on his plate, plus seconds of the noodles.  Sophie only ate apples and the Quorn tenders from the noodles.  She asked for seconds on them, and I tried to tell her she could have seconds if she would taste a green bean.  In response, she freaked out.  I definitely think we will need to use that strategy soon, but I just don't think she's able to respond to it yet.

This dinner would have been good with a beer, but I've had alcohol several nights in a row now, so I decided I'd give it a rest.

Ants on a Tree

Vegetable oil
1/2 red onion, or more to taste, chopped
4 large garlic cloves
1 tablespoon of minced pickled ginger (I use the kind in a tube because I hate grating the real stuff)
8 ounces ground pork or other crumbled protein (I also add Quorn tenders because they're easier for the kids to eat)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more to taste
1/4 cup soy sauce
8 ounces rice noodles, medium thickness
2 cups desired broth, plus more if needed
1/4 cup rice vinegar
5 ounces bean sprouts
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil at a medium setting in a large pan or 300 degree on an electric skillet.  Add the onion, garlic, ginger, protein, and pepper and saute until the onions are soft and the protein has browned.  Add the noodles, broth, soy sauce, and vinegar.  Increase the heat if necessary to bring the liquid to a simmer, and stir frequently to ensure that the noodles absorb the liquid evenly, adding more broth as needed.  When the noodles are pliant, mix in the bean sprouts and then add the sugar and sesame oil.  Garnish with cilantro just before serving.

Serves up to 4 people.

4 comments:

McCants Fam said...

This one sounds yummy but has a few too many ingredients for me...I like quick simple meals! Mason isn't always the best eater but is getting better. What works for us is we have plates with dividers that hide different characters and the only way he can see what is under that particular area is to eat what's on his plate. He loves the game and will keep taking bites til he sees what's under that area. I know it can be frustrating but that works for us right now.

beckim82 said...

Well, since I'll be in school all day in the fall, I think I'll be doing pretty much ONLY quick, simple meals then! I'll have to get used to that, but honestly this one feels pretty quick to me since I've made it a bunch.

I try really hard to just let my kids eat what they will and not stress out when they don't eat much. But I can't help but feel ecstatic when one of them actually eats a good helping! I'll probably feel the same way when they're 30 and coming to my house for dinner with their own families.

Unknown said...

Becki, I made this the other night and it was delicious. I used different noodles but still really good. And my girls ate it! It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. Took me half and hour but that's only b/c I had to read and make sure of what I was doing. I'll be making this again.

beckim82 said...

Awesome, Samantha! I'm so glad it worked for you guys. I love to learn new recipes, but it definitely kills my vibe in the kitchen to have to check a recipe constantly.