sábado, 8 de enero de 2011

Soba Sails From Japan

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Published: January 7, 2011

MY food rut of 2010 was soba. I was complacent, preparing it the same way every time by tossing the slender buckwheat strands with broth, scallions and sesame oil and then throwing a piece of seared salmon on top.

Related Recipe

Arctic Char With Soba Noodles, Pine Nuts and Meyer Lemon(January 12, 2011)

At the beginning of the year, it was time to break out. Just because soba originally comes from Japan doesn’t mean it needs to stay there. The springy, earthy noodles are an excellent base for other flavors. The first thing to go was the broth, since I wanted to create more of a soba salad than a soup.

To keep the noodles from sticking together and to add a peppery, herbal flavor, I coated them with the best extra virgin olive oil I had in the cupboard, along with some Meyer lemon juice and zest for brightness (and because I had a few of the lemons on hand) and garlic for bite.

As for the salmon, I had planned to keep it in the mix. But at the fish store, another, paler pink fillet caught my eye: Arctic char.

I wanted to repeat what I’d done the last time I cooked Arctic char: drizzled it with toasted whole cumin seeds steeped in olive oil, then roasted the fish until just cooked through, succulent and moist.

At this point my dish had not only left Japan, but was also wandering all over the map. I probably should have left well enough alone, but I’d traveled so far already that there was one more thing I wanted to try: crunch. I toasted some pine nuts, which are softer than other nuts, so they’d provide just a little something to challenge the teeth, but nothing too jarring. And I like the way they taste with cumin.

When it was all done, the creamy pink fish and pale noodles both looked and tasted like the picture of culinary cohesion — a new dish for a new year.