Noodle Stir-Fry

Well, folks, it's time to debut one of my favorite dinners to make and eat because it's both easy and delicious! I call it a noodle stir fry, and it's pretty much foolproof. Which means: when I am tired and not channeling my inner Rachael Ray, I can still pull this one off.

I start this meal by marinading some sliced or small-chunked chicken in about a 1/4 cup of low-sodium soy sauce, a little minced garlic, and chopped ginger. You know what I always say about marinading: if you've got time, do it. If you haven't got time, proceed with the dish anyway. Marinading chicken infuses it with the flavor a little more thoroughly, but when you're pressed for time, I'm betting you won't notice. In the past I have used chicken breast for this dish. This time, I used chicken thigh, and I preferred it. The thigh meat stays juicier and more tender than chicken breast, and I love the way it cooked up in this recipe. Every bite was moist and soft.

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Unlike virtually every other time I've sauteed meat, I chose to cook this meat in a little water in the bottom of a wide-bottom pan. I know that thigh meat can be a little tough to cook, and I also wanted to make sure my stir fry had some liquid to steam later in the process. So I put about a half-inch of water in the bottom of my chicken fryer, let it get to simmer, then added my chicken. I put the cover on and let it steam for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, I started some thin spaghetti to boil (I actually prefer angel hair for this recipe, but when you have spaghetti in the cupboard already, you use spaghetti).

When the ten minutes of meat steaming are up, you'll have a pan of light brown-colored chicken and some liquid. At this point, I added diced carrots (two large carrots) and about a cup-and-a-half of frozen broccoli. For future reference (and for your reference), wait a while before adding the broccoli. Mine was mushier than I like. Cover and cook the chicken and carrots for about five minutes, then add the broccoli for another five. Remove the lid and let the liquid cook down for a minute or two. Finally, add the drained spaghetti and toss, keeping a low heat. I love pasta tossed directly with its topping. I think cooking in the juices for a minute adds to the flavor of the pasta itself, so I try to use this technique whenever possible.

As a final touch to this dish, I added some thinly sliced romaine lettuce. I think adding lettuce to a noodle stir fry sounds odd, so I imagine you do, too. But at Penang, a fabulous Malaysian restaurant in Boston, I was served Singapore rice noodles with lettuce stirred in, and the contrast of texture and flavor was really cool. Imagine biting into a fork of hot noodles, soft carrot, and tender meat, then a piece of cool, crunchy lettuce. It's a great experience.

But, if you don't believe me, skip out on the lettuce. You will enjoy this noodle stir fry with or without it, assuming that you're eating with fork in hand.

PS: If you want to keep this vegetarian, skip the steaming the chicken step and throw in a ton of veggies instead. This one change takes the dish from carnivore-friendly to vegetarian-friendly in one easy step!