Vegetable Chow Mein-ish with Asparagus
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Friends, hello. A quick note today and a call for some help. I’m writing for Food52 again, this time around about quick, weeknight cooking, featuring recipes like Cal Peternell’s Vegetable Chow Mein-ish, which has become my favorite thing to eat.
Questions for you: What is your ideal for a weeknight dinner? What kind of recipes would you like to see? Let me know! I will be posting over at Food52 every week and keeping you updated here.
Vegetable Chow Mein-ish with Asparagus
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Adapted from Cal Peternell’s Twelve Recipes, vegetable chow mein-ish has become a family favorite.
A few notes: The original recipe calls for 1 pound of spaghetti (you don’t need to use soba or egg noodles or other Asian noodles to have success with this recipe). I like to make it with more vegetables and fewer noodles, which is how the recipe is written below.
Because all of the vegetables sauté at the same time, it’s important to prep them all before you start cooking. You can do this hours ahead of time and leave them out till you’re ready to cook.
Carrots: I haven’t even been peeling them. I just trim off the ends and run them down my mandoline. You can grate the carrots using a box grater or the shredder attachment to a food processor, or you can cut them by hand.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 8 ounces soba noodles
- 4 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
- 2 cups loosely packed julienned carrots
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced white or yellow onions
- 1 pound asparagus, end trimmed, sliced on the bias 1/4-inch thick (about 3 cups)
- 3 cups 1/4-inch-thick slices shiitake mushrooms (from about 7 ounces)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch red pepper flakes or hot sauce, optional
- 1/3 cup shelled edamame, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil with 1/4 cup water. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the soba noodles and cook according to package—mine have been taking about 6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over high heat and add the grapeseed oil, carrots, onion, asparagus, and mushrooms. Add ½ teaspoon salt and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, 7 to 10 minutes—taste a piece of the asparagus to test for doneness. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt if desired (I always do.) Turn the heat to low, push the vegetables aside, add the garlic and pepper flakes if using.
- Drain the soba noodles, run under cold water, then transfer to a bowl of cold water. Use your fingers to loosen any strands that are stuck together—this will ensure untangled soba noodles in the finished dish. Drain the soba noodles again, and add them to the pan of vegetables along with the edamame and sauce. Toss to coat and let sit on the stove until noodles are heated through. Serve immediately with hot sauce on side, if using.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Chinese, American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
19 Comments on “Vegetable Chow Mein-ish with Asparagus”
Hola Ali! Things like this….but I like a variety of stuff. Sometimes I like to make flank or skirt steak, mostly I like vegetarian food – but my husband would prefer otherwise. For the record, the balsamic caramel I made for our anniversary in April is still going strong. We both love it, and its so easy. And….it’s lasting in the jar. I made a bunch and it continues to be used. They had little steak strips on sale, I normally don’t know what to do with them, but I grilled them quickly, S+P, and a little drizzle of the caramel. 🙂 Now, I’m making veggie patties for a few dinners: chickpea and pea falafel with naan and salad, a black eyed pea fritter with salad. Nothing deep fried, my brain says pan frying is so much healthier, but I know the truth. I’m actually making the vegetable chow mein-ish tomorrow, to break up the fritter-y dinners. At this point, I’m in the “use up everything in the fridge and freezer” mode. Moving + Spring cleaning.
I guess that’s a long winded way of saying I like seasonal variety, mostly simple or simple-ish. I should also add that when I have leftovers I try and use them differently than the night before. (Otherwise my husband internally frowns, but says nothing.)
I can’t wait to read more of you on Food 52 and I’ll let you know how the chow mein goes tomorrow. You rock and are always a great source of advice and knowledge! – xo
Dana, thank you thank you as always for your thoughts! First, so happy to hear the balsamic caramel is going strong. Second, I LOVE the sound of all of your veggie patties — black eyed pea fritter … yum! I know that use-up-everything feeling. Oh my goodness, you have a lot to think about. I hope the preparations are going OK.
Let me know how the chow mein-ish turns out! And thank you for your kind words. Means so much.
My ideal weeknight dinner:
I’m bad at meal planning, and have a large garden and chickens, so vegetarian is great for me (although I’m not one). I am a huge fan of one-dish meals, that provide leftovers for lunch at work the next day.
One of our favorites is vegetable carbonara since it uses veggies, eggs and pantry staples. We also do veg & bacon fritattas with grits on the side pretty regularly (although fritattas are not great leftover).
I would love to have more recipes that only require a pasta or other grain, eggs, seasonal vegetables, olive oil, and cheese. This chow-mein dish is a great example of a quick vegetarian weeknight meal that uses seasonal produce and pantry staples – requires no planning. I would also like good recipes for vegetarian casseroles that are easy to throw together and not super unhealthy.
Your blog is great! Love the seasonality of it – keep it up with the CSA advice! Have you ever done a post about meal planning?
Shelley, thank you for all of this! LOVE the idea of vegetable carbonara — so do you leave out the pasta entirely? Or do you load up your pasta carbonara with vegetables?
I think frittata is a great idea, and I’ve been meaning to try to make one of those leftover spaghetti frittatas—like a spaghetti pancake—with some greens mixed in. I, too, love the idea of a healthy-ish vegetarian casserole.
Thanks so much for writing in and sharing your thoughts! So helpful. I have not done a meal planning post, but I could definitely work on one … truth is that I’m not great at meal planning myself. Every dinner is sort of an emergency 🙂 This is the closest I’ve come to meal planning but it has more to do with strategizing a CSA share: https://alexandracooks.com/2012/09/24/getting-the-most-from-your-csa-two-favorite-potato-recipes/
We just do pasta carbonara with whatever veggies we have. The recipe on your blog for that is great too. Will definitely be putting leftover pasta in my next fritatta – good idea! Thanks for all your recipes and inspiration!
Oh great, thanks, Shelley! Sounds so good.
Something similar to what you’ve already been doing here — simple food done really well. I know I can count on your recipes to turn out every time with spectacular results. Since I’ve got 3 (and soon to be 4) kids, I need weeknight recipes that are fairly uncomplicated and don’t have a lengthy ingredient list — like Canal House Chicken
Ann, congrats! How exciting. I hope you are feeling OK. And thank you for this—it means a lot to hear. I love that Canal House chicken, too. I’ve been wondering how to adapt that same technique with other meats, veg, grains. Thanks again, Ann!
Your honey-soy chicken (https://alexandracooks.com/2013/02/26/honey-soy-chicken-drumsticks-thighs-or-wings/) has been a great addition to our weeknight dinner rotation served with a side of rice and veggies. So simple.
I second everything Shelley, Ann, and April says! I think you should just keep doing what you’re doing!
April, thanks for this! I think I need to go back through my old New York Times cookbook and find some similar recipes. I love that one, too.
Dana, you are too sweet! Thank you 🙂
This worked so well, I just wanted to let you know. I did all the prep early on and the only time it really took was for the water to boil. It was fantastic and so simple. Thanks for introducing me to this recipe!
So happy to hear this, Dana!
Chow Meinish looks tasty and with asparagus, too. Thank you. For meals, I am often looking for things to do with salads, things to do with beans — like that white bean and orange salad you shared. We seem to do a fair amount of rice and bean based things like wraps, bowls, etc. with meat, if we have it, as the “garnish” as they say. Probably make the Mario Battali “commencement address” anchovie pasta (using soy or potato or rice or whatever pasta) recipe with some veggie option -kale, broc, chard, green beans, etc. -at least once a week – I think you have a version of it on your site. So looking for twists on that, sure. We also make ground turkey burgers a lot and would welcome enhancements. And fish tacos with those WF corn tortillas. Would welcome intelligence on how to vary or improve. There is one scallions and tofu dish we make sometimes, too – Bittman, I think… need some zest in my tofu dealings, if you’ve any. Tons of sweet potatoes are et here, and there seem to be no end to the forms we eat them in. I am interested in getting to now farro better- and freekah – and quinoa – what is the quinoa, grilled leek, pine nuts, ??? salad – do you know that? I used a black quinoa to make it. You must have a version that I could use. Sorry for the ramble – look forward to whatever you post and as always to reading.
Martha I don’t know of this commencement address anchovy pasta! We are going to have to discuss. But yes to everything you are inquiring about — these are all things I would like to see more regularly in my dinner rotation: tofu, tacos, sweet potatoes, quinoa, farro …. I’m on it!
“…know farrow better” instead of “now farrow…”, of course.
This was just fab – I used asapargus, leeks, mushrooms and a bit of cabbage that was looking sorry for itself in the bottom of our fridge. Folowed everything else exactly. So delicious and so easy.
So happy to hear this, Alex! So glad you put that cabbage to use … such a boost for its morale 🙂 Hope you are well!