These soba noodles are dressed in a zingy lemon sauce, tangled with wilted chard and beet greens and studded with sour and salty capers. A perfectly light, spring-time meal that’s ready in a flash.
Wow, it's been a long time! I confess to feeling like a piece of me is lacking without the usual frequent posts to Produce On Parade. I'll try to be better. I wish I could tell you the same ol' story of how the cookbook and our home construction have been taking up most of my time, but it wouldn't be entirely true. The house is in a sort of lull while we tackle the valley that is our driveway and with only a couple more recipes to go for the cookbook...I'm finding it very difficult to pick the last, lucky ones.
“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
To me, the calm before the storm is certainly worse than the storm itself. Being in a perpetual state of unknowing is by far my greatest menace in life, and a big source of suffocating anxiety. I've been trying to be gentle with myself and welcome a wee bit of senioritis and willful adjournment with a 10 mile backpacking trip, and bingeing on audiobooks during long runs and walks. I'm so glad I have been! Check out Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook for some awesome Alaskan backcountry photos.
This week, I've found it really difficult to muster on and conclude the last remaining recipes for the cookbook due mostly to a very strange reason...the weather. It's been in the high 80's all week! Too hot to sleep, too hot to be outside, and certainly much too blistering to turn on the oven! Yesterday Todd joked with wide eyes, "I'll crush you if you turn on the oven." Now I can finally understand those oven-related gripes from those in The Lower 48. Rarely do we have such a problem up here in Alaska. I generally welcome any opportunity to fire up the oven; leaving the door ajar after cooking has ceased to help warm the house. Not this week.
Lemony Chard Soba Noodles
This is a wonderful dish if you’re looking for a departure from the usual peanut butter laden soba noodle bowls! These soba noodles are dressed in a zingy lemon sauce, tangled with wilted chard and beet greens and studded with sour and salty capers. A perfectly light, spring-time meal that’s ready in a flash. - NOTES - If you don’t have beet greens, any other leafy green vegetable such as kale, collard greens, mustard greens, or simply additional chard will work beautifully. This is an exceptionally lemon-intense dish. If you’d like, start with only 2 tbsp (30 ml) of lemon juice to lessen the intensity and if you like, add more. I like incorporate the chard stems into my dishes, but discard them if you wish. Dijon or regular yellow mustard can be swapped for the stone-ground mustard.
Ingredients
- Greens -
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
- 2 (10 g) garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bunch (200 g) fresh chard, chopped
- 1 bunch (53 g) beet greens (or other leafy greens), chopped (see note)
- Dressing -
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- juice from 1 large lemon, about ¼ cup (60 ml) (see note)
- 1 tbsp (15 g) stone-ground mustard (see note)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- dash of red pepper flakes
- ---
- 6 oz (180 g) soba noodles, dry
- 2 tbsp (34 g) capers
Cooking Directions
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low. Add the garlic and saute a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the chard and beet greens. Stir uncovered for about 3 minutes until the greens have wilted slightly, you may have to add them in batches if the pan cannot accommodate all the greens at one time. Once they have wilted slightly, cover and allow to cook over low heat for about 10-15 minutes, until completely wilted.
- While the greens cook, bring a pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Soba noodles only need 4 minutes to cook, so wait to add them when there’s only a few minutes left on the greens.
- Add all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
- When the greens are wilted and the dressing is ready, add the noodles to the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Next, drain the noodles and add them to the greens. Stir in the capers and the dressing, using tongs to incorporate all the ingredients evenly.
- Serve warm.
Information For The Day
I really needed a good laugh and this guy delivered. You need to watch this hilarious vegan rap and brighten your day!!
