Ginger-Hoisin Vinaigrette

Menu: Stir-Fried Noodles with Shrimp, Snow Peas and Carrots; Broccoli with Ginger-Hoisin Vinaigrette; Sliced Fresh Pineapple

Lessons learned:

1. My other stir-fry sauce is better.
2. Stir-fry the vegetarian protein with the veggies, not the shrimp.  It doesn't get overcooked and absorbs a lot of flavor if you leave it in for the whole process.

One of the best places to buy fish for sushi in Tallahassee is also an Asian grocery store, so when I stopped in yesterday for fresh fish, I also stocked up on noodles.  Normally I'm just getting rice noodles, but this time I grabbed some egg noodles as well and gave them a try tonight.  Yum!

This is the deal with most Asian noodle dishes that I've come across: you cook the noodles separately.  You cook the meat or seafood separately.  You cook the veggies separately.  You make the sauce separately.  Only at the very end do you throw it all together.  It's easy if you accept that almost all of your time in the kitchen is prep time, and it's delicious.

Tonight I used 1/2 pound of shrimp and 1/4 pound of Quorn tenders.  This is our third seafood meal of the week, but I just don't feel bad about that.  This shrimp was only $6/pound at the fish market, and I used half a pound tonight.  On the other hand, I'm still not sure what to think about Quorn.  I've liked every product of theirs I've tried, but it still seems like made-up food to me, so I don't use it too often in meals.  The kids eat it, though, so throwing it in with shrimp is a good way to please everyone.  I went with onions, carrots, and snow peas for our veggies.  The sauce I used was from the pasta & noodles cookbook from America's Test Kitchen: soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken broth, sugar, garlic, and red pepper.  It was good, but I have another one I like better that I'll use next time.

Here is my plate:

The kids ate pineapple, Quorn, some noodles (Ben), and broccoli (Sophie).  No John tonight, so I ate mostly by myself.

The dressing for the broccoli is very convenient to make in a large quantity and keep in the fridge for the times when you know you need a vegetable but don't know what to do with it.  The recipe follows.

Ginger-Hoisin Vinaigrette (The New Best Recipe from America's Test Kitchen)

2 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Just whisk all the ingredients together and pour as much as you like over cooked vegetables.  I usually double or triple the recipe so I don't have to make it as often.  Enjoy!