This one-pot recipe from Milk Street is quick, healthy, and a great alternative to traditional pasta dinners. Assembling and preparing all of the ingredients before cooking is the trick to the timing - take a few minutes and get your mise en place in order before you start.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound medium asparagus, tough ends trimmed
- 5 tablespoons white miso
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
- 12 ounces soba noodles
- 3 scallions, minced, plus thinly sliced scallions to garnish
- 4 fried eggs Shichimi to garnish rice seasoning, to serve (optional)
- Lemon wedges, to serve
Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, snap or cut off the tender tips of the asparagus. Set aside. Slice the stalks on the bias into 1/2-inch pieces. Set aside separately. In a large bowl, combine the miso, butter and ginger, stirring and mashing.
Add the noodles to the boiling water. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the asparagus stalks and cook for another minute. Add the tips, then cook for 2 minutes. Drain the noodles and asparagus, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. The noodles should be just tender. Add the noodles, asparagus and minced scallions to the miso butter. Add enough reserved cooking water to reach a creamy consistency, using tongs to toss until the butter melts and coats the noodles.
Divide the noodles between 4 serving bowls and top each with a fried egg. Sprinkle with sliced scallions and shichimi to garnish, if using. Serve with lemon wedges.
Don't add salt to the soba cooking water. While we usually salt our pasta water, miso can be quite salty and sodium levels vary widely by brand. Skipping the salt gave us better control over seasoning.
