Dinner for 2/1/11

   I have been continuing to go through the many recipes I have found in various places online. I tried the recipe below last night. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that it said soup and I thought it was a noodle dish with a sauce, so I tried to reduce the sauce and it wasn't very strong in flavor. I replaced the rice wine with rice vinegar, left out the red pepper, mushrooms and green onions, used whole wheat linguini instead of udon noodles and used canned carrots and frozen spinach. Perhaps these substitutions had something to do with the lack of flavor as well. We ended up adding more soy sauce on it to make it taste better. If you want to try this recipe I would suggest using onion and more garlic to increase the amount of flavor. The kids would only eat the noodles, but they did like those.

Udon Noodle and Beef Soup

4 servings
8 PP values per serving

Ingredients

    * 8 ounces uncooked udon noodles (thick, round fresh Japanese wheat noodles) or spaghetti
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
    * 1/2  teaspoon crushed red pepper
    * 2  (14 1/4-ounce) cans low-salt beef broth
    * 3  tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
    * 3  tablespoons sake (rice wine) or dry sherry
    * 1  tablespoon honey
    * Cooking spray
    * 2 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 4 ounces)
    * 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
    * 8 ounces top round, thinly sliced
    * 3/4 cup diagonally cut green onions
    * 1 (6-ounce) bag prewashed baby spinach

Preparation

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain.

Place garlic, pepper, and broth in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Combine soy sauce, sake, and honey in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and carrot; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in soy sauce mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add vegetable mixture to broth mixture. Stir in beef; cook 2 minutes or until beef loses its pink color. Stir in noodles, green onions, and spinach. Serve immediately.