Miso Glazed Asparagus & Soba Noodle Salad
on May 26, 2015, Updated Sep 02, 2020
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Can you stop and think of the last time you ate a meal comprised of only real food? Nothing processed, nothing refined… just real food. It’s hard isn’t it?? A couple of weeks ago Matt and I watched the documentary Fed Up and holy cow. My life is forever changed!! If you haven’t seen it, it basically just talks about how much sugar and added chemicals are in everything processed. Because processed foods are what we live on in this day and age, its a little disturbing to think about what is actually in this “food” we buy in the middle of the grocery store. I could go on and on but the jist is that I have started trying to focus on eating as much real food as possible. Lucky for me, I love to cook & have a supportive husband who is doing this with me, but its not as hard as you would think! I am going to try and live by the rules of Lisa Leake over at 100 Days of Real Food. Basically because she eats Triscuits and drinks beer and wine still… Did you know Triscuits only have 3 ingredients? Whole Grain Wheat, vegetable oil and salt! I am just trying to read ingredient labels and not put chemicals in my body when I can avoid it. Because of this change my blog will start to look a lot more… green? And extra delicious of course! What I love about this way of eating is that I am not scared of oil and butter anymore! Counting calories and eating protein bars all day is just not as fun and eating butter, bacon & whole grain delicious carbs.
This all brings me to this delicious dish! I have never used buckwheat soba noodles and I am so glad I discovered them! I don’t really understand how they are gluten free, but they are! Buckwheat comes from a “grain-like” seed that is related to the rhubarb family. I am not gluten free, but chose to try these because they are made of just buckwheat flour and water, and are full of nutrition. The sauce of this dish is really what brings it together though. Miso & ginger work with other ingredients to bring a huge burst of flavor to the noddles and asparagus. There are also some mushrooms in the mix which makes for lots of umami!! I adapted this recipe this one on The Kitchn but made a few changes like honey instead of brown sugar and yellow miso instead of red! First cook up your noddles for about 5 minutes.
Then you make the tasty sauce and put half of it on the asparagus and cook them on the stove top until tender.
Then pour the rest of the sauce on the cold noodles and add in your asparagus and sauteed mushrooms! Oh and top with sesame seeds of course!
The perfect bite!
Miso Glazed Asparagus & Soba Noodle Salad
Ingredients
- 8– or 9-ounce package soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
- 2 tablespoons yellow miso
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 1/2 pound fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced (or shitake, any mushrooms will do)
- 1 pound asparagus, tough ends trimmed away
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- Kosher salt, to season
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the soba noodles just until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and run cold water through the noodles to stop the cooking.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the miso, water, sesame oil, 3 tablespoons olive oil, soy sauce, honey and ginger.
- Chop the asaparagus (one ends have been trimmed) into bite size pieces. In a skillet over medium high heat, add the asparagus and 1/2 of the sauce mixture. Cook, stirring occasically so they don’t burn, until asparagus is fork tender. Remove from heat and put asparagus on a separate plate.
- In the same pan, heat remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté the garlic and mushrooms until the mushrooms are just tender and starting to turn light brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid sticking or burning.
- Toss the asparagus and remaining miso sauce into the cooled soba noodles. Fold in cooked mushrooms. Season with salt, and top with sesame seeds. Serve room temperature. Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to three days.
