Accounting for Taste

In this quick and spicy weeknight noodle dish, sizzling hot oil is poured over red-pepper flakes, orange peel, crunchy peanuts, soy sauce and sesame oil. While you brown the ground pork, the mixture sits, and the flavors become more pronounced and fiery.

Tossed with soft noodles and browned pork, the bright chile-peanut oil shines. For something green, throw in a quick-cooking green vegetable like baby spinach when you break up the pork in Step 3. You can also swap the pork with ground chicken, turkey, or beef, or crumbled tofu.

It is suggested not to use the entire amount of chili oil. Therefore, I found it easier to strain the peanut chili oil over a bowl. This way you can toss the peanuts, noodles and ground meat together, adding additional oil to taste. And it was easier to toss it all in the larger pot as opposed to the skillet.

Spicy Sesame Noodles with Ground Pork and Peanuts

Servings: 4
Time: 30 min
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1½ Tbsp. red-pepper flakes
1½ Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1½ tsp. toasted sesame oil, plus more as needed
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1″ piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Kosher salt and black pepper
½ cup plus 1 Tbsp. neutral oil, like grapeseed or vegetable
6 Tbsp. roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Rind of ½ orange, peeled into 2- to 3-inch strips
1 lb. ground chicken
5 oz. baby spinach
10 to 12 oz. ramen or udon noodles, preferably fresh
3 Tbsp. finely chopped chives

Directions

In a medium heatproof bowl, stir together the red-pepper flakes, soy sauce and sesame oil. Set next to the stovetop.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat, cook the ½ cup oil, peanuts and orange rind, shaking the pan occasionally, until the peanuts are golden and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes. Immediately pour the contents of the skillet over the red-pepper mixture (be careful of splattering!) and set aside.
Meanwhile, in the same skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add the pork and press it down with a wooden spoon into a thin layer. Season with salt and a generous amount of black pepper and cook, without stirring, occasionally pressing the layer of meat down, until the bottom is browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain excess oil from pan.
Add minced ginger and garlic to the pan with browned meat. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Break the pork up into small pieces, add the spinach, and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more.
While the pork cooks, cook the noodles according to package directions, until chewy but not soft. Drain and toss with a bit of sesame oil; return to pot.
Remove and discard the orange rind from the chile oil. Strain the peanut-chili oil over a small bowl.
Off the heat, add enough chile oil to coat the pork and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Add the meat mixture and peanuts to the pot with noodles and toss, adding more chile oil to fully coat the noodles and pork. (If you don’t use all of the chile oil, you can store it in the refrigerator for 2 weeks in an airtight container.) Top with chives and serve at once.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Loosely adapted from recipe by Ali Slagle for NYTimes

Not a huge fan of take-out—although it does serve its purpose on occasion—here’s a stir-fry that will taste far better than any from the local Asian restaurant down the street. Yes, it is a bit prep-intensive, and uses several bowls, but well worth your time and effort. You could even do a lot of the prep earlier in the day, and throw it all together when ready to eat.

We paired the Spicy Beef with Peanuts and Chiles with a Rice Noodle Salad, that not only complimented the main dish, but shared many of the wonderful flavors. Even though the original recipe indicated to use a 12-inch skillet, next time we’ll use our wok. Keep in mind, you will probably need to sear the beef in two batches, so as not to steam the meat, but brown the slices.

The supermarket was not carrying either serrano or Thai chili peppers so we opted for Fresnos. As the recipe instructs, we did not discard the seeds, but if you can’t tolerate heat, you may want to scale back some, or omit altogether.

Our slices of flank steak measured about 1/4″-thick. If you prefer thinner slices, freeze the steak whole for about 15-20 minutes, then slice to your preferred width.

Spicy Beef with Peanuts and Chiles

Servings: 4-6
Time: 35 min
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1 lb. flank steak, thinly sliced on the diagonal against the grain
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. light brown sugar
1/4 cup salted peanuts
2 large shallots, coarsely chopped
2 Thai or serrano chiles, stemmed and coarsely chopped (don’t seed)
3 Tbsp. canola or peanut oil
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Directions

Toss the steak with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, 1 tsp of the fish sauce, and the salt.
Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tsp fish sauce with 1 tablespoon of the lime juice and the brown sugar and set aside.
Pulse the peanuts, shallots, and chiles in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl.
Set a wok or 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 1 minute.
Add 1-1/2 tablespoon of the oil and once it’s shimmering, add the beef.
Cook, stirring, until the beef just loses its raw appearance, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 1-1/2 tablespoon oil and the shallot mixture, sprinkle with salt, and cook, stirring, until the shallots are soft, about 2 minutes.
Return the beef to the pan. Stir the soy mixture and add it, along with half of the cilantro and basil, and cook, stirring to let the flavors meld, 2 minutes.
Serve sprinkled with the remaining lime juice, cilantro, and basil.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Original recipe from the now defunct Fine Cooking