Challenged Again! Extravagant Chinese Noodle Salad

As incredible as it may seem, Foodbuzz.com has challenged me to tackle a classic dish from another culture, one that is a bit out of my comfort zone. 

It’s a huge pleasure to be presented with this challenge, especially when so many of my readers and friends voted for me!  Thanks so very much for your confidence, I’m up to the dare!

So why did I choose an “extravagant” salad to write about?  Remember the challenge – - “classic dish, another culture, and out of my comfort zone”.  There’s nothing more classic than noodles, more foreign than China and more strange to me than trying to recreate this dish with oriental ingredients, not readily found half-way around the world in Panama.

One of the most important cuisines in the world is Chinese, although I’m not very familiar with it.  The most essential ingredient and staple in Chinese cuisine is the noodle, it has been for over 4,000 years.  We know this because in 2005, fossil noodles were discovered in Qinghai, China that were that old.

I don’t think Chef Lauretta knew how long noodles have been made when she selected Chinese Noodle Salad to be one of the featured dishes for the last Boquete Underground Dinner.   This very trendy Bistro Boquete Restaurant owner and chef prepared the most decadent, delicious noodle salad that any of the diners had ever tasted.   Some of the guests ordered a second helping, it was so yummy!

It wasn’t any ordinary noodle salad, if there is such a thing.  It had peanuts in it, mushrooms, broccoli, sesame seeds and it was spicy, very spicy.  It was a most unique creation.

Here’s my dilemma: should I ask Lauretta for her recipe, or shall I try to duplicate it myself?  I’m wondering if any diners tried to duplicate it themselves, as it was the best salad many of us had ever tasted. 

The taste was intriguing, so many ingredients in one dish and yet, is was so light and fluffy, even called “extravagant”.

I decided to try to make Lauretta’s salad myself and this is my attempt at making peanut, sesame, noodle salad, and I call it my
Spurious Chinese Noodle Salad.
3 packages ramen noodles, cooked
1/2 head green cabbage, finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 cup fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup small heads of broccoil, blanched
1 red pepper, thinkly sliced
5 green spring onions, thinly sliced
1 cup cocktail peanuts for garnish
3 tablespoons sesame seeds for garnish

Dressing
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, cleaned and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili oil, it must have provided Lauretta’s “bite”

Combine the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss lightly with fingers, as Lauretta is doing in the first photo. Whisk the ingredients for the dressing together and pour into a squeeze bottle.

Make a huge, extravagant portion, as everyone will want lots of this salad.

Pile it onto beautiful salad plates. It’s fine to use your hands, real chefs do it that way. Squeeze on a generous portion of dressing as Lauretta is doing, sprinkle on the peanuts and sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Remember, this is my recipe and my challenge. Both turned out deliciously, don’t you think?

I call my salad “spurious” because it’s not Lauretta’s recipe, but it’s a good fake.
I’ll ask Lauretta for her “real” recipe as soon as she gets settled into her new restaurant, The Bistro Boquete. It’s been remodeled and is opening tonight! Good luck, Lauretta!

Have fun faking!
Cora

Your Grandfather’s Artisan Bread!

This bread is very special, not only because it’s baked in an outdoor clay oven, but it’s made by your grandfather, or should I say “grandfathers”.

Last week, Rudy, Jim, Jerry and David tried their hands making artisan bread, under the watchful eye of instructor, Grandpa Mort Rabkin.

The results were amazing, beautifully mixed, kneaded, shaped and baked by these very talented grandfathers.

One of the first questions that was asked in the class was “What is artisan bread? “Good question”, was Mort’s eager reply. “Does anyone know what makes bread “artisan?”

The gramps thought and quickly came up with lots of replies, including the fact that each loaf is hand-crafted, not mass produced. Artisan breads are made with few and all-natural ingredients, no chemicals, and baked in “masonry” ovens.

The characteristic I love about hearth breads is that they are so beautiful, crusty and luscious looking, like the ones pictured below.

Step by step, the gramps weighed, measured, mixed and kneaded their dough until it had just the right feeling. It’s a bit of a trick to learn when the dough is smooth enough to rise, but after the first experience, it’ll only take a bit of practice to get it exactly right.

Using Mort’s handmade wooden peal, Jerry loaded the wood-burning oven with his final creation, his very own loaf of home-baked hearth bread.

Jim and David had just pulled these loaves out of the oven when I took the photos below. Gorgeous, wouldn’t you say?

Now that these gentlemen have learned to bake artisan breads, here’s an interesting way they can use it to dazzle their children and grandchildren.

Panzanella is a “show-stopper”, especially when made with grandpa’s old-fashioned rustic bread cubes. If there’s any bread left the day after baking, gather together the following ingredients and toss them together in a large salad bowl.

2 cups day-old artisan bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and lightly toasted in broiler
1 large tomato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium cucumber, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium red onion, 1/4 inch slices separated into rings
1/2 cup green or black olives, pitted
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
10-12 fresh basil leaves, torn

To make the dressing, whisk together the following 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle the dressing over the salad, toss and serve.
3 minced anchovies
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Artisan breads are available regularly at Boquete’s Tuesday Morning Market, held from 9am-12pm every Tuesday at the Event Center, just over the bridge from El Parque Central. If you’d like to taste some of these rustic breads, Mort brings a variety of his clay-oven breads on most Tuesday mornings.

Now, you can enjoy his fresh, one-of-a-kind breads and use any left overs, if you’re lucky enough to have any, to make a unique, old-world Panzanella salad, just like grandpas are making in Boquete.

Happy baking!
Cora