It was Britain’s enterprising nature and quest for food that led to colonization—and effectively changed global cuisine, suggests Lizzie Collingham in The Hungry Empire. There’s no question the spice trade made a permanent impact on the way we eat, one…
It was Britain’s enterprising nature and quest for food that led to colonization—and effectively changed global cuisine, suggests Lizzie Collingham in The Hungry Empire. There’s no question the spice trade made a permanent impact on the way we eat, one of the largest being the discovery of black pepper. Native to the Malabar Coast of India (present day Kerala), black pepper, or Piper nigrum, is a flowering vine that is cultivated for its fruit, the peppercorn. Regarded as the world’s most traded spice, black pepper gets its spicy warmth from a compound called piperine. Now considered a commonplace ingredient in the pantry (right after salt, and often ground into dust and left to sit on supermarket shelves for long before it’s used to season food), black pepper’s treatment in many kitchens can only be described as unfortunate. We seem to have forgotten about its glorious early years—and its contribution to myriad styles of cuisine.
The spice trade started before the Common Era, with Arab merchants in the Middle East who controlled and conducted the luxury goods business along the Silk Road, an important pathway that connected Asia to the Middle East and other parts of North Africa and Europe, which eventually led to the Romans entering the market. While there are records of black pepper in ancient Greek and Roman texts, the spice was largely popularized in the late 15th century, after a discovery by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama on the shores of Calicut (present day Kozhikode), India—the spice was so abundant, it ultimately led to Portuguese domination of the area.
It’s the season of overflowing market bags, heavy CSA boxes, and gardens run amok. Alexandra Stafford of Alexandra Cooks is showing us how to store, prep, and make the most of the bounty, without wasting a scrap.
Today: How to store…
It's the season of overflowing market bags, heavy CSA boxes, and gardens run amok. Alexandra Stafford of Alexandra Cooks is showing us how to store, prep, and make the most of the bounty, without wasting a scrap.
Today: How to store, prep, and make the most of the season's pepper crop, whether you have just a handful or you picked so many you should be called Peter Piper. Start with Yotam Ottolenghi's marinated pepper salad.
Enchilada Stuffed Mushrooms-portobello mushrooms filled with black beans, corn, bell pepper, enchilada sauce, and cheese. The entire family will love this quick and easy vegetarian meal. Say hello to one of our favorite weeknight meals! Enchilada Stuff…
Enchilada Stuffed Mushrooms-portobello mushrooms filled with black beans, corn, bell pepper, enchilada sauce, and cheese. The entire family will love this quick and easy vegetarian meal. Say hello to one of our favorite weeknight meals! Enchilada Stuffed Mushrooms are hearty, filled with veggies, and oh-so-cheesy. These are similar to my Lasagna Stuffed Mushrooms, but enchilada…
After having so much success with our Sweet Potato Quinoa Fritters, we wanted to try our hand at a vegan version. So we tested a few variations, and this simple zucchini-dill flavor was the winner!
We swapped eggs for chickpea “eggs” to keep them plan…
After having so much success with our Sweet Potato Quinoa Fritters, we wanted to try our hand at a vegan version. So we tested a few variations, and this simple zucchini-dill flavor was the winner!
We swapped eggs for chickpea “eggs” to keep them plant-based and gluten-free. And the result was tender, sturdy fritters that are versatile, quick and easy to make, and incredibly flavorful.
Pizza may seem an unlikely flavor for a veggie burger, but it’s one of the best we’ve tried! Think chickpeas infused with Italian seasonings and vegan parmesan, coated in bread crumbs, baked until golden brown, and topped with red sauce. Hello, flavor …
Pizza may seem an unlikely flavor for a veggie burger, but it’s one of the best we’ve tried! Think chickpeas infused with Italian seasonings and vegan parmesan, coated in bread crumbs, baked until golden brown, and topped with red sauce. Hello, flavor match made in heaven!
These chickpea-based burgers are plant-based and simple to make, requiring just 10 ingredients and 30 minutes. Let’s do this!
These Steak Kabobs are marinated in a delicious steak marinade and stacked on a skewer with mushrooms, bell pepper, and red onion and grilled to perfection! Summertime means it’s kabob time and these grilled Steak Kabobs are perfection. The steak…
These Steak Kabobs are marinated in a delicious steak marinade and stacked on a skewer with mushrooms, bell pepper, and red onion and grilled to perfection! Summertime means it’s kabob time and these grilled Steak Kabobs are perfection. The steak gets a tender, delicious flavor from a simple steak marinade and it’s layered with the…
During the lockdown, I found myself with all sorts of things that needed to get used up sooner than I expected. I would buy too many lemons, thinking I’d need them. Then realize I had too many and make lemon curd. The grocery shopping delivery service that I use inexplicably had jalapeño peppers on their website (and a few times, padrón peppers!) and I couldn’t…
During the lockdown, I found myself with all sorts of things that needed to get used up sooner than I expected. I would buy too many lemons, thinking I’d need them. Then realize I had too many and make lemon curd. The grocery shopping delivery service that I use inexplicably had jalapeño peppers on their website (and a few times, padrón peppers!) and I couldn’t not buy those, since those are very rare around here. And because I’ve been doing Instagram Live apéro hour videos, I was concerned about running out of fresh mint, so bought them by the bundles (plural), until one day I realized I had way too much.
This soba noodle bowl is a quick and easy dinner recipe, perfect for weeknights! It’s a filling vegetarian meal full of healthy veggies. No one’s going to complain about more quick and easy recipes, right? This one the ultimate quick weeknight meal, a filling vegetarian dinner that comes together in 20 minutes flat. Meet this soba noodle bowl! It’s filled with stir fried broccoli, red pepper and onion, mix with a savory sauce with creamy peanut butter. Even better: eggs are scrambled right into the mix (like fried rice, but with noodles~). This healthy stir fry comes to you straight from our friend Rachel’s cookbook Just the Good Stuff. And it’s chock full of good stuff. Why to make this soba noodle bowl This soba noodle bowl is more like an easy stir fry than a free-form noodle bowl with lots of veggie toppings. This makes it quicker and easier to put together than the type of noodle bowl that has lots of components. Here are some of the reasons it’s a candidate for your go-to list: It takes 20 minutes. There’s no limit to the amount of easy dinner recipes you can have in your arsenal! The quick prep […]
This soba noodle bowl is a quick and easy dinner recipe, perfect for weeknights! It’s a filling vegetarian meal full of healthy veggies.
No one’s going to complain about more quick and easy recipes, right? This one the ultimate quick weeknight meal, a filling vegetarian dinner that comes together in 20 minutes flat. Meet this soba noodle bowl! It’s filled with stir fried broccoli, red pepper and onion, mix with a savory sauce with creamy peanut butter. Even better: eggs are scrambled right into the mix (like fried rice, but with noodles~). This healthy stir fry comes to you straight from our friend Rachel’s cookbook Just the Good Stuff. And it’s chock full of good stuff.
Why to make this soba noodle bowl
This soba noodle bowl is more like an easy stir fry than a free-form noodle bowl with lots of veggie toppings. This makes it quicker and easier to put together than the type of noodle bowl that has lots of components. Here are some of the reasons it’s a candidate for your go-to list:
It takes 20 minutes. There’s no limit to the amount of easy dinner recipes you can have in your arsenal! The quick prep time makes it perfect for whipping up on a weeknight with limited ingredients.
The 2 ingredient sauce brings big flavor. The sauce here couldn’t be easier: just coconut aminos or soy sauce plus nut butter! We used peanut butter, but you could use almond butter or cashew butter. (All 3 link to our homemade versions!)
It’s a protein-filled vegetarian dinner. The best part of this recipe is the savory scrambled egg! It’s like the egg you’d scramble into fried rice, but with soba noodles. The egg plus nut butter makes for enough protein to make it a filling meal.
About the book: Just the Good Stuff
This soba noodle bowl is from Rachel Mansfield’s book Just the Good Stuff: a compilation of “guilt-free recipes to satisfy all your cravings.” Alex and I met Rachel speaking on a panel together at a conference, and she even more lovely in person than her Instagram self (if that’s possible!).
Like us, Rachel is passionate about eating real food and organic ingredients. The book is filled with gluten-free, Paleo-friendly recipes made with healthy ingredients: but you never feel like you’re giving anything up. If this recipe is any indication, this book is absolutely packed with flavor! (Note: it’s not vegetarian or vegan, but there are plenty of plant based options.)
This soba noodle bowl can be made in any quantity. The original healthy noodle stir fry recipe is actually in the “Solo Meals” chapter of Just the Good Stuff: it was written as a recipe for one. But since we are most often cooking for 3 and all the recipes on this website are for 4, we increased the quantity. Plus, we love leftovers! We love cooking once and eating for a few days.
But if you’d rather: this makes a great single serving meal! Just divide the quantities by 4.
The skinny on soba noodles
What are soba noodles? Soba are thin Japanese buckwheat noodles. They’re often served in soups or chilled with a sauce: or in a noodle stir fry like this one! All buckwheat soba noodles are gluten-free, but some brands are made with wheat flour and buckwheat flour. Make sure to check the package if you eat gluten-free.
One note on soba noodle brands: Alex and I have found that every brand of soba is different! There are some brands that very thin and tend to break, and some that are a little thicker that we like better. Make sure to experiment a bit to find the soba you like.
Variations on this soba noodle bowl
While we love this soba noodle bowl as is, there are plenty of ways to mix it up! Here are some ideas on ways to accessorize it:
Add shrimp. Cook up some garlic shrimp on the side and throw it on top!
Add tofu. Try our easy marinaded tofu or tofu scramble. Tofu scrambles are perfect as a vegan protein for quick weeknight meals!
Add more of your favorite veggies. Anything that would work in a stir fry works here: mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, snap peas, zucchini, edamame, green onion, etc. For approximate cook times, go to Easy Vegetable Stir Fry.
Start a pot of water to boil. Boil the soba noodles according to the package instructions (it should take about 4 minutes). When it’s done, drain. Then rinse with cold water to wash away the starch, and drain again.
While the noodles cook, heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, onion, bell pepper, and broccoli. Cover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until soften, about 6 minutes.
Strain the soba noodles and add them to the vegetables in the skillet.
Crack the eggs into the skillet and mix well, breaking up the yolk and white and cooking it into the vegetables and noodles.
Once the egg starts the set, add the coconut aminos or soy sauce and peanut butter and mix well. Serve warm.
All of my best tips for how to roast asparagus, plus ideas for roasted asparagus seasonings, sauces and more! ‘Tis the season for one of my favorite springtime dishes — roasted asparagus! ♡ We make roasted asparagus as often as possible in our house while it is in season. And love serving it as a […]
All of my best tips for how to roast asparagus, plus ideas for roasted asparagus seasonings, sauces and more!
‘Tis the season for one of my favorite springtime dishes — roasted asparagus! ♡
We make roasted asparagus as often as possible in our house while it is in season. And love serving it as a healthy side dish, or chopping it up and adding it to everything from pastas to salads, soups, risottos, frittatas, grain bowls, and more.
Most of the time, I love keeping my roasted asparagus super-basic and make it simply with olive oil, salt and pepper. But I have included lots of options below for extra seasonings and sauces that you are welcome to add too. Plus, tips for how to select the best fresh asparagus at the store, how to trim off those pesky tough ends, and how to store roasted asparagus if you happen to have leftovers (lol, we never do in our house).
Alright, let’s make some roasted asparagus, friends!
During the lockdown, I found myself with all sorts of things that needed to get used up sooner than I expected. I would buy too many lemons, thinking I’d need them. Then realize I had too many and make 
(9 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)
Prep Time:
Yield:
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Category:
Method:
Cuisine: