Creamy miso mushroom udon
A mega umami noodle dinner, ways to make it into a feast for friends, and a French wine bar payday treat
Udon noodles are one of my favourite ingredients to cook with. The chunky texture, the bouncy bite, and the satisfying slurp. Here I’ve mixed them with mushrooms, miso, soy sauce and cream to make a saucy, creamy, wholly slurp-able dinner.
You can use any mushrooms you like. I used chestnut because that’s what my local Tesco Express had to offer, but torn oyster mushrooms would be wonderfully meaty.
Creamy miso mushroom udon
Serves one
1 tbsp butter
100g mushrooms
3 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp miso paste
60ml double cream
150g udon noodles
1 tbsp grated parmesan (optional)
Place a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the butter. While it melts, finely slice your mushrooms and spring onions. Once the butter is hot and melted, add the mushrooms and the white part of the onions. Fry, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes until the mushrooms are browned and the onions are soft.
In a small bowl, cover your udon noodles with boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes.
While the mushrooms and onions are cooking, finely chop your garlic cloves, then add to the pan and fry for a minute or so until fragrant but not browned. Add the soy sauce, miso paste and double cream to the pan with a splash of water. Stir to combine and heat through.
Drain your noodles and add to the pan. Combine with the sauce and stir until glossy. For an extra creamy, savoury hit add parmesan to the pan and stir to combine.
Season with plenty of black pepper and serve with the sliced green part of the spring onions on top.
Quick pickled radishes
A little dish of pickled radishes is easy to make and adds another level of flavour and colour to this meal. Finely slice 100g of radishes and add to a bowl with 100ml boiling water and 6 tbsp white wine vinegar. Leave to pickle while you get the rest of the meal ready.
Asahi
This one’s simple. There’s no better match for something savoury, creamy and deeply umami than a cold Asahi.
Garlic and chilli edamame
Every feast for friends needs a little snack to get things started, and a bowl of edamame is an easy win. Toss your bean pods into a frying pan with a drizzle of sesame oil for a few minutes until hot and browned, then sprinkle in chopped garlic, chilli flakes and salt. Serve with a freshly cracked open beer.
A French wine bar
The novelty of a walk-in only restaurant is never lost on me, and it’s even better when the restaurant in question is *fancy*. Cadet isn’t technically a restaurant, it’s more of a wine bar, but it’s the perfect place to perch on a Friday night to glug down more than a few glasses of red and feast on bistro-inspired plates. My top marks go to the squash, radicchio, hazelnut and cheese salad and the salted malt ice cream for pud.
Potatoes
It’s not often I take the time to make roast potatoes. I’d make them more frequently, but I don’t want to skimp on the various steps and processes that make them so delicious. If you’re doing it properly, the parboiling, steaming, tossing, roasting, heating, and crisping up takes over an hour, so it’s not a task I take lightly. This week, fuelled by a Halloween-induced hangover, I decided to take the plunge. Using Cyprus potatoes from Maltby Street market (not a traditional choice, but the vendor promised me they’d be delicious), I made roast potatoes to accompany a much-needed roast. I always add a tablespoon of flour before tipping them into piping hot oil to make sure they’re extra crispy.