Whenever I find I’m feeling heavy with the richness of winter eating, I turn towards one of Heidi Swanson’s cookbooks. Turning the pages of Super Natural Everyday is like fanning myself with a warm summer’s breeze straight off the San Francisco Bay, golden with California sunshine. Something many of us Oregonians need right about now. As I write, a crazy winter storm passes over our apartment thick with slush, ice, snow and soaking drops of rain. I can’t think of a better way to counter the cold damp than with a steaming bowl of soba noodles.
I adapted her recipe just a bit, working with what I found it our pantry rather than making another run to the store, but the essence of it is the same. Rich black sesame paste, nutty with a pinch of heat. I suggest you brew yourself a big mug of steamy tea, cozy up to a bowl of these noodles, and dream of spring.
Cheers!
Black Sesame Soba Noodles with Crispy Kale
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day
The Crispy Kale is not in the original recipe, but it sounded like a pleasant addition.
Heidi’s recipe also calls for mirin, which I didn’t have on hand so I substituted with Marsala
and an extra pinch of sugar.
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Ingredients:
1 teaspoon sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon plus one pinch natural cane sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons shoyu
1 1/2 teaspoons Marsala, or mirin if you have it on hand
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
Large pinch of red pepper flakes
Sea salt
12 oz soba noodles
One leek, thinly sliced
For the Kale:
One bunch kale, dried throughly, torn into bite-sized pieces, thick stems removed
Sesame oil
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Toast the sunflower seeds and sesame seeds over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant. About 5 minutes.
Pour toasted seeds into your food processor and pulse until gritty and sand like.
Add the sugar, shoyu, Marsala, sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Pulse until blended.
Scoop out into a bowl or jar and set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add soba noodles. Cook according to package directions.
Drain, reserving about 1/3 cup of the noodle water and rinse the noodles under cool water.
Add all but about 1 tablespoon of the sesame paste to the hot noodle water.
Stir in the noodles and about half of the sliced leeks.
Serve hot with a dollop of sesame paste and a sprinkle of sliced leeks and crispy kale.
For the Kale:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Toss very dry kale with about a tablespoon of sesame oil and a few pinches of sea salt.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until kale is crisp and its edges are just beginning to char.
[...] 2. Black Sesame Soba Noodles with Crispy Kale [...]
[...] Black Sesame Soba Noodles with Crispy Kale: We eat a lot of kale around here, but it’s usually in one of two forms: some kind of raw kale salad or kale chips. I like the idea of crisping it up just a smidge and incorporating it into a dish (my kale chips always end up too oily, and my husband would probably say they end up way too salty) for a little extra texture. And I love soba noodles (just wish they weren’t so expensive..). [...]
I love how you’ve styled these photos! The dish looks absolutely delicious. I could eat kale in every meal, forever.
Beautiful photos Dina! And I know exactly what you mean about Heidi’s recipes. Have you ever made her Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad? I grow cabbage for the sole purpose of making that salad as often as possible.
Ooo, I’m not a big cabbe fan, but I’ll have to try it! Thanks!
I gasped out loud when I saw this — so beautiful! I love the idea of tossing crispy kale with noodles. Really liking this dish.
Gorgeous! Heidi’s recipes are really great–they always make me feel so wholesome. Love the addition of crunchy kale for texture!
Gorgeous photos! I want to eat this right now… I love the crispy kale addition.
Thanks, Jeanine!
This sounds absolutely fabulous! I love kale and never thought of adding roasted, crispy kale chips to noodles. You prepared it beautifully!
This is an amazing looking plate of noodles! Kale is such a great addition to most dishes, isn’t it? I’m adding this to my to-do list.
Very pretty!
Another great way to dress up my soba noodles ! Love the photos !
Thank you!
Yum! I love that book and agree that roasted kale must be a great addition to this recipe–thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks!
that looks so good! sounds like you are getting the weather we had up north here last week. the sun decided to show up today, making it seem like spring, but i would still want some of those noodles!
Thanks, Yvonne! Hopefully your sunshine is not too far behind!