I Wanna Wok...

By now, it ought to be clear that I'm somewhat of a glutton for punishment when it comes to my time in the kitchen. I take on recipes with the intent of expanding my cooking skill set, and am constantly tackling recipes that other people might reserve for a special occasion. This time, I engineered another visit to H-Mart, the intimidating, panic-attack inducing Korean grocery store that I visited with Justin a little over a month ago, with the intent of producing nearly a week's worth of Asian-influenced recipes that have been lingering on my to-do list. I was inspired in this endeavor by a rare sale on flank steak at my regular grocery store (seriously, why is beef so expensive?) that enabled me to tackle a particularly tempting stir-fry recipe I'd had my eye on.

Today's visit to H-Mart was far less stressful, perhaps because we'd come on a day with inclement weather, but whatever the reason, it was far less crowded. Since I was more familiar with the layout of the store this time, I was able to find everything we needed in relatively short order, and we made it out of the store with a large selection of items for under $20. Not bad at all.

I was even more happy that I'd given H-Mart another chance when I tasted the dinner I had created using the ingredients I had purchased there. I'm definitely going to have to watch the price of flank steak like a hawk, because both Justin and I would like to see this dish become a semi-regular meal around our house. 

As per the suggestions in the comments on Epicurious, I doubled the amount of sauce for the recipe, which was a stroke of brilliance, as the dish would have been very dry otherwise, and the sauce was absolutely delicious -- a perfect balance of rich and savory flavors. The snow peas provided a nice crunchy element, though in the future I might experiment with adding baby corn as well, both to increase the vegetable content, and because I really love baby corn. Also, if you can't find fresh, Chinese-style noodles near you, I think this stir fry would be equally satisfying served over rice.

Beef and Snow Peas with Pan-fried Noodles

adapted from Gourmet

1 lb. package fresh Chinese-style noodles

1/4 c. oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

4 teaspoons corn starch

1 c. water

5 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

1/2 lb. snow peas, trimmed

3 scallions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons minced, peeled ginger

1 lb. flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, then drain in a colander.

2. Stir together oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and water until smooth.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add noodles to skillet, pressing them with a rubber spatula to form a cake, and cook until underside is golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip cake over and drizzle 1 tablespoon oil around sides of cake, then cook until underside is golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer noodle cake to a cutting board and cut into quarters.

4. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a wok or 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Stir-fry snow peas with a pinch of salt until bright green, 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to a plate. Add 2 tablespoons oil to wok and stir-fry scallions and ginger with 1/4 teaspoon salt 30 seconds. Add half of beef and cook, undisturbed, 45 seconds, then stir-fry until beef is just browned, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to plate with snow peas. Add remaining tablespoon oil and cook remaining beef in same manner.

5. Stir sauce mixture again, then add to wok and bring to a boil. Stir in beef and snow peas, then serve spooned on top of noodle cake.

Imagine Whirled Peas...

It's a well-known fact that I am no fan of vegetables. My mother accepted this fact years ago, and largely stopped trying to foist them upon me, after I would spend entire evenings at the kitchen table having staring contests with the peas that refused to disappear from my plate when I was told that I wouldn't be dismissed from the table unless I ate them. My significant other, however, craves healthy things in his diet, and has been waging an uphill battle to get me to introduce more vegetables into our shared meals. In large part, I've been trying to accommodate his tastes, and incorporating more vegetable side dishes and selecting more meals that have vegetable components.

That's why a heavily vegetable-laced chicken salad from the most recent issue of Bon Appetit caught my eye -- now that my antagonistic relationship with peas has cooled, I thought a three-pea chicken salad would make a perfect lunch for me and my vegetable-loving boyfriend. Luckily for me, I was able to pick up all two of the necessary types of peas (snow peas and sugar snap peas) for a song at H-Mart yesterday, and we had frozen peas and frozen chicken breasts on hand, so there were few barriers standing in my way.

Just because I was able to acquire all the ingredients easily did not mean that I was able to throw this together in a timely fashion. The writers at Bon Appetit classify this as a quick meal, but they are sorely mistaken. This chicken salad is a test of one's knife skills the likes of which I have never experienced before. I spent what felt like forever thinly slicing the snow and sugar snap peas and green onion into fine ribbons, along with finely mincing the garlic and shallots. Sure, it was easy to chuck everything into a bowl and stir it up once it was all prepared, but I'm not sure the dish merited all the effort.

That's not to say that it wasn't tasty. If you like vegetables, like Justin does, I'm sure you'd enjoy this chicken salad as much as he did. For me, however, there were just too many raw vegetables and too little chicken. It was fresh, crunchy, and full of bright, spring flavors, but I couldn't ignore the voice of my inner child screaming, "Eiw! Veggies!" If you have some time on your hands, and access to a farmer's market, by all means, give this recipe a spin, you'll probably enjoy it. As for me, I'll be sticking with my much-beloved chicken salad recipe, that still has some fruit and vegetables for interest, but is more heavily skewed toward the meat side of the equation.

Three-Pea Chicken Salad

adapted from Bon Appetit

2 large shallots, 1 halved, 1 minced
2 garlic cloves, 1 smashed, 1 minced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound thinly sliced stringed sugar snap peas
1 cup frozen, thawed peas
1/2 cup thinly sliced stringed snow peas
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh green onion
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice

Place halved shallot, smashed garlic, and chicken in a medium saucepan. Add water to cover by 1 inch and season with salt and pepper. Bring water to a boil; remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand until chicken is just cooked through, 15–25 minutes, depending on size of chicken breasts. Transfer chicken to a plate and let cool. Shred or dice chicken. 

Meanwhile, whisk yogurt, oil, minced shallot, and minced garlic in a small bowl. Season dressing with salt and pepper.

Combine all peas in a medium bowl. Add chicken, dressing, parsley, green onion, lemon zest, and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice, if desired.