These posts are never much for a solid recipe but, hopefully, more inspiration to go into your pantry / freezer / fridge and make good use of those groceries you've already purchased! Literally everything in this meal came from something we already had. Here, I'll prove it to you:
Soba noodles - I buy something similar to this from Harris Teeter; in the package are 3 separate bundles of soba noodles which I find perfect for 2 servings. Therefore 1 package = 3 meals for us.
Chicken breast - Patrick and I stock up on frozen individually packaged chicken breasts from Costco so we usually always have these in the freezer
Asian dressing - This is one of the few (maybe the only) prepared dressings we keep on hand since we typically dress our salads from our stash of oils and vinegars. I find this is great to have because it's versatile enough that it can be used as a marinade. It's officially Ken's Lite Asian Sesame with Ginger & Soy dressing.
Sweet potatoes - Think we used the last sweet potato from our CSA here (they keep so long!!)
Edamame - I usually don't have this in the freezer (I like to buy the frozen shelled edamame to toss into Asian dishes for the extra nutrients) but on this occasion I had a bag which I had bought for a previous dish and forgot to use it then
Arugula - Used half a bag for a previous recipe in the week and tossed the rest into the dish (certainly could've done without the arugula)
Soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, sriracha - All things we keep on hand
Then once you know what you're working with, figure out how to put it all together and assemble!
For this throw together, I thawed my chicken breast earlier in the day and then let it marinate in the dressing for an hour or so while the rest of the items were prepped. I knew the soba noodles and edamame would cook fast (and that I could also boil them in the same pot simultaneously). So baking the sweet potatoes and chicken would be the first priority.
I diced the sweet potatoes into small bite-size chunks so that they would cook faster and then I could just toss them into the final dish without any trouble. The sweet potatoes were drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper before putting them into a preheated 400F oven. After 15 minutes, I lowered the oven to 375F, gave the sweet potatoes a stir, and added the chicken breast to the side of the pan to cook with the sweet potatoes. Then they finished baking in about 20-25 minutes (we always have a kitchen thermometer handy to check internal temps).
While the sweet potatoes and chicken were baking, I prepped a quick dressing / light sauce to toss the whole dish with (which I adapted from here). It was about 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sesame oil, dash of sriracha, and dash of ground ginger.
Meanwhile in a pot of boiling water cook edamame and soba noodles according to package directions. I think the edamame called for 5 minutes and the soba noodles for 3 minutes so the edamame went in the pot first and then after 2 minutes the soba noodles followed!
Finally toss everything together: sweet potatoes, baked chicken breast (dice it up first), drained soba noodles and edamame, dressing, and the fresh arugula.
Hope this empowers you to have a "throw together" meal as Patrick and I so lovingly call them. And remember not all throw together meals are a hit! And no two throw together meals are ever the same...
Well, you finally came up with something I don't think I would like. I do not care for edamame. Love you blue bowl!
ReplyDelete