Slurp-tastic Herb Noodles Recipe
A big, slurpy bowl of whisper-thin spinach noodles draped in a spicy curry and herb broth - inspired by a beautiful box of noodles I picked up in Mill Valley, Ca.
I suppose I had what most people would call a stay-cation last week in nearby Marin County. My assignment was simple - take care of your sister's two dogs. Friends find this mildly amusing, because although I generally like dogs, I don't own one, and Heather's dogs aren't exactly petite. I'll just mention that one is a Bernese Mountain Dog and leave it at that. I settled into her house, made sure the dogs had plenty to eat, and used it as home base while she was in the UK. For those of you unfamiliar with Marin, most of it sits just north of the fog-bank that drapes itself over San Francisco each summer. Temperatures peaked in the 90s while I was there, and when I wasn't tossing squeaky toys to my two canine friends, I was exploring some of the nearby sites. This big, slurpy bowl of whisper-thin spinach noodles draped in a spicy curry and herb broth was inspired by a beautiful box of noodles I picked up in Mill Valley.
While walking around Mill Valley, I stumbled into Tyler Florence's new shop - yes, you know him, the guy from the Food Network! He lives in this area. His shop is called Tyler Florence West Coast Kitchen Essentials - it's sort of like Williams-Sonoma but infused with the slightest hint of Anthropologie, and let's say 5% generic country kitchen. There were a couple unexpected details and quirks that I'd love to see more of. For example, stacks of vintage Gourmet magazines you can take to the back of the store and browse while sitting in the cozy library cookbook alcove. You can't buy them though (I tried!). He also stocks adorable, handmade kitchen aprons and textiles by Ambatalia / The Fabric Society. This one came in a kids size, and although I rummaged through the shelves looking for an adult-sized version, it wasn't meant to be. There was a wall of various food products - oils, spices, vanilla and the like. I spotted a box of lovely, light, Cipriani spinach tagliolini and quickly grabbed a box. You see half of it here in today's recipe coupled with a selection of herbs that were congregating in my refrigerator door (again), and a nice jolt of curry paste.
In case you find yourself in that zip-code, and before you make your way to the recipe, here are a few other places worth mentioning. I spent my mornings at Emporio Rulli in Larkspur. There is one guy pulling shots who is particularly on point. If I lived in that area I'd have to ask him his work schedule is. Wayne came over on the ferry one day and we had fantastic Neopolitan-style pizza that night at Pizzeria Picco - and no, we couldn't resist the olive-oil drizzled soft serve with sea salt. And to counterbalance all that - I took a couple tough (but great) classes at The Dailey Method, conveniently located just up the street from Pizzeria Picco.
We ate this the first night back. You could certainly add broccoli for a bit of colorful crunch, and nutritional boost. Cauliflower might be good too.
Other favorite noodle recipes include: this incredible vegan ramen, my favorite pad thai, sriracha rainbow noodle salad, and black sesame otsu. Pasta with Smashed Zucchini Cream is also really good, or browse this list of tasty noodle soups!
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Slurp-tastic Herb Noodles Recipe
I used Cipriani's extra-thin spinach tagliolini here, but many thin pastas could be substituted. Just try to imagine if it would go with a nice, hearty, spicy curry -some pasta will work better than others.
4 ounces thin, dried spinach pasta (thin)
1 cup coconut milk (light is fine)
scant 1 tablespoon green or yellow curry paste
1 1/2 cups lightly flavored vegetable broth
~1/4 teaspoon salt (more or less depending on the saltiness of your broth)
6 ounces tofu, cut into small cubes or pieces
1/4 cup chives, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup basil, chopped just before using
pinch of crushed red chile peppers
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. This is eventually going to be the pot you cook the pasta in.
In a separate large, thick-bottomed pot, bring 1/4 cup of the coconut milk to a simmer, mash and stir the curry paste into the coconut milk so there are no lumps. Now add the rest of the coconut milk and the vegetable broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and stir in the tofu. Taste and decide if you need to add more curry paste or salt - if you do want to add more curry paste at this point, make a slurry by combining the additional curry paste and a bit of the broth, working any lumps out - add this to the pot.
Back at the pasta pot, salt the water generously and cook the pasta per package instructions. Drain.
Just before serving stir the chives, cilantro, and basil into the curry pot. To serve, place a nice helping of noodles in the center of each bowl and finish with a ladle of the curry and tofu along with a tiny pinch of crushed red chile peppers.
Serves 2 to 4.
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Comments
I didn't know Tyler Florence had a shop like that? How fantastic to browse through! I recently found old Bon Apetit Magazines that my Dad had stored in the basement. My Mom recently retired and is cleaning stuff out since he passed away. I had the best time looking through all those old magazines!
Now I desperately need a recipe for soft serve ice cream with olive oil and sea salt. Was the olive oil just drizzled on top? Or was it blended in? HS: Generously drizzled over the top. And the soft serve was light and billowy, but still rich with the flavor of slightly sweetened cream. Soooo good.
Marilyn Mandel, pineapple juice is fun in this kind of soup. It is more in the lines of a Vietnamese hot-and-sour soup, but would have a curry twist. The dish will be different but still flavorful. Herbs also stand out well in pineapple juice. I must say I appreciate the quick recipes.
Hi Heidi, Is there any substitute for tofu? My hubby won't even eat veggies, but he does love my Pesto Sauce which I make with 1/2 Basil and 1/2 Parsley and two kinds of toasted nuts and, of course, all the other delightful ingredients. Great olive oil, and if you are nice to us, I also share the made up concoction with family or friends. Thanks a lot, Heidi, I love your site and share it often with others.
Thank you Heidi for mentioning my kitchen textiles. I appreciate the support. All of my textiles are fairly traded and locally made, using organic textiles. I would love to make you a smock apron in your size. Thanks again, and I can't wait to read more on your site. Molly
This looks awesome and very easy to make gluten-free. Coconut milk, curry, and red chile flakes are favorites of mine. Love the pasta photos! Thanks, Melissa
Spicy curry tofu noodles? I'm there! Will have to pick up the ingrediants this weekend. :-)
I am having this for dinner this week, or a variant anyway. I have red curry paste laughing at me from MY fridge!
Debra Climie-- Use chicken, pork or beef instead of tofu. She posts what she eats and if is eating tofu heavy these days, what is she supposed to post? can't please everyone. sheesh.
what if you hate coconut milk? substitutions, please..... spinach noodles sound great. if you know of a los angeles resource that may carry it, i'd love to know. thanks for all you share..
I thought the little bits were mushrooms in the photo and as I'm not a lover of tofu, I think I'll try it with mushrooms as a variation. Looks delicious.
I love love love your site but am finding the recipes a little tofu heavy! It seems like every second recipe contains tofu these days. I have an intolerance to soy as do many others of us out here. Perhaps when you present us with a soy protein based recipe you could provide alternatives for those of us who cannot eat it. That would be wonderful! Your recipes and creativity are fantastic and I want to continue to enjoy them! Thanks Heidi. HS: Hi Deborah, for the most part the recipes I feature here are quite forgiving - particularly if they aren't baked. Feel free to swap in whatever sounds good to you - in this case, perhaps it would be another form of pre-cooked protein.
That looks really great and I just made a jar of curry paste. I may be moving to Marin county soon, these finds will come in handy.
This looks great, and I have a bucket of red curry sitting in my fridge that needs used. Kate - Instead of spinach pasta, you go more asian with a thin rice noodle, buckwheat soba, or maybe even udon (they do a curry udon in Japan that is pretty good).
Wow, those noodles really do look "slurp-tastic" I'm in love with that first pic!
Anyone else have suggestions for the spinach pasta substitute? I was thinking whole wheat angel hair but I want to ensure the grainy-ness (for a lack of a better phrase) doesn't overpower the subtleness of the broth.
Fantastic combination. The addition of cauliflower sounds great too.
this looks great! I'm up in Marin every now and again -- thanks for the recommendations of spots to check out!
I had no idea Tyler Florence had a shop...it sounds positively delightful. As does the recipe. I usually use rice noodles when I make curry, but I can see this working really, really well.
Those noodles look delicious. I'll be making this soon.
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