Ottolenghi's Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango

This week's theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Use Your Noodle."  Since I love pasta this theme was right up my alley.  I saw this recipe and knew it was the one that I would make.  Noodles, eggplant, and mango.  All ingredients that I love.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find soba noodles at the local grocery store but already had a package of udon noodles in the house so I used those.  I also substituted a whole jalapeno pepper in place of the red chile pepper.  My grocery store doesn't carry those and I've found that Ottolenghi uses them a lot in his recipes!  This is a perfect spring or summer meal.  It's served room temperature and does require the sauce being premade and the eggplant browned.  But it's light and refreshing with a hint of spice.  I didn't even attempt to try to get the kids to eat this.  It had a little kick to it plus they don't like eggplant . You have to like eggplant to really enjoy this dish!  My adapted recipe is below.  For the original recipe check out Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango
Recipe adapted from Plenty:  Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 cup vegetable oil
1 eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch dice
12 ounces udon noodles
1 large ripe mango, cut into 3/8-inch dice
2 1/2 cups cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced

Directions:
In a small saucepan gently warm the vinegar, sugar and salt for up to 1 minute, just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the garlic, jalapeno, and sesame oil. Allow to cool, then add the lime zest and juice.

Heat up the vegetable oil in a large pan and shallow-fry the eggplant in three or four batches. Once golden brown remove to a colander, sprinkle liberally with salt and leave there to drain.

Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally. They should take 5 to 8 minutes to become tender but still al dente. Drain and rise well under running cold water. Shake off as much of the excess water as possible, then leave to dry on a dish towel.

In a mixing bowl toss the noodles with the dressing, mango, eggplant, half of the cilantro and the onion. You can now leave this aside for 1 to 2 hours. When ready to serve add the rest of the cilantro and mix well, then pile on a plate or in a bowl.

Mommy & Daddy Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Meatless Monday: Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa

I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to make these burgers.  The major fact being that I don't like beans!  The last dish I think I made with beans were bean burritos.  My son, the picky eater of the family ended up loving them!  In an effort to not pass on my eating dislikes to the kids, I try to make an effort to expose them to all kinds of foods....even ones that I don't like.  Since we try to eat meatless once a week I decided to make these burgers.  They were pretty easy to make and while they were cooking in the oven I was able to make the salsa.  The salsa really helped me enjoy these burgers because if I had to eat them plain, I wouldn't be fan.  The salsa was so tasty I could probably eat the whole bowl of just that! The kids, not fans of avocado, picked all of it out of the salsa (more for me!).  But they each ate the half of a burger I gave them.  This recipe made ended up making 8 burgers for me.  I could have made them a little larger, as seen in the picture below, but was happy with the size.  Since I wasn't a big fan of these, we ended up freezing three of the burgers for my husband to eat in a few weeks when me and the kids go up to my parent's beach house in Rhode Island and he stays home. 

Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa
slightly adapted from Cooking Light, April 2010

Ingredients:
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, divided
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large egg whites
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups chopped peeled mango (about 1 medium)
3 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 hamburger buns

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Place black beans in a medium bowl; mash with a fork. Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro and the next 6 ingredients (through egg whites). Shape bean mixture into 6 (1/2-inch-thick) patties. Arrange patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, carefully turning once.

3. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro, mango, and the next 4 ingredients (through minced garlic) in a medium bowl. Place a patty on bottom half of each hamburger bun; top each with 1/3 cup salsa, and top half of bun.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Balsamic-Mango Marinated Grilled Chicken

Unfortunately, during the weekday I cannot grill, until I get a grill pan, which I told my husband I am going to buy soon!  Especially since summer is coming and I have a ton of grilling recipes, but can't use our Weber charcoal grill!  When I saw this recipe the flavors sounded delicious, so even though it was "grilled" I thought that I'd just cook it in the cast iron skillet.  I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with this dish.  I marinated the chicken just as the recipe called for.  When it was time to eat it, it hardly had any flavor though!  I'm trying to be semi-healthy in my eating, so I made some cous-cous for the kids and I had my chicken over salad greens.  I used Ken's honey balsamic dressing, which definitely added extra flavor that the chicken lacked. 

Balsamic-Mango Marinated Grilled Chicken
from Recipe Girl

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts (pounded lightly to thin out if they are too thick)
1 cup mango nectar (I used Goya)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large RIPE mango, peeled and chopped

Directions:
1. Combine chicken in a large zip bag with mango nectar, vinegar, olive oil and thyme- along with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Zip the bag closed and move the chicken around in the bag to coat with the marinade. Lie the bag flat in the refrigerator for at least one hour and up to 2 hours, turning the bag every so often to redistribute the marinade.

2. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Spray the grill with grilling spray (or rub the grates with oil). Drain the marinade from the chicken and grill about 4 minutes per side, or until the chicken is cooked through.

3. Serve grilled chicken topped with chopped mango.

Family Rating:  So-so.