#53 - Sesame Cucumber Udon + Onion, Pine Nut and Cavalo Nero Spaghetti
Speedy midweek dinners, coming right up
Hello team!
I’m starting to feel quite festive over here, but I won’t exhaust you by talking about Christmas in the newsletter just yet. Instead, this focus of this week is simple midweek dinners that you can whip up in no time at all.
The next instalment of Feeling Myshelf (the series where I cook using store cupboard ingredients) brings you sesame and cucumber udon, and the main newsletter comes with a really simple pasta recipe (an onion, pine nut and cavalo nero spaghetti). Here, you’ll get my in depth instructions on how to cook an onion properly (actually a bit of an art I think).
Paid subscribers will also get my recommendations for a book, a TV show and a drink I’m loving this week, plus a few of my favourite Black Friday deals on right now.
Fancy receiving the extra content? Why not upgrade your subscription to paid! You’ll get access to over 100 recipes in the archive, as well as all my recommendations (got a holiday to Vietnam, Marseille, Porto, Bologna or Copenhagen coming up? I’ve got you!).
Enjoy,
Sophie x
The Recipes
Feeling Myshelf Episode 5 - Sesame and cucumber udon
It may seem strange to give you a recipe for a chilled meal at the end of November, but I find this one comforting whatever the weather. It makes really good meal prep, to eat at the office or when you return home bleary-eyed from Christmas drinks.
The marinated eggs are a fixation of mine at the moment - perfectly seasoned with a jammy centre, they keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, and would make an excellent addition to breakfasts, instant noodles and stir fries.
Serves 3
3 eggs
125ml dark soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 cucumber
4 spring onions
2 tbsp tahini paste
1 tbsp crispy chilli oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
400g udon noodles
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Bring a small saucepan of water up to a boil. Gently get your eggs in the pan, and cook them for 7 minutes.
Get a bowl filled with ice water ready, and drop the eggs in once the time is up.
Add your soy sauce to a cylindrical container, along with 75ml water, your rice vinegar and sugar. Give it a mix.
Once your eggs are cool, peel them and get them into this mixture. Pop on the lid, and leave them to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour (or several days if you like!).
Move onto your noodles. Grate your cucumber, then pop it in a sieve set over a bowl. Add 1 tsp salt, give it a mix, then leave it to sit for 15 minutes. This will draw out the water from the cucumber.
Add your tahini paste, crispy chilli oil, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice vinegar to a large mixing bowl. Whisk it all together until combined.
Cook your udon according to packet instructions. Finely slice your spring onions.
Drain your noodles, then run them under cold water to cool them down.
Add them to your tahini mixture. Squeeze the liquid out of your cucumber and then get that in the bowl too, along with your sliced spring onions and toasted sesame seeds. Give it a really good mix.
Add your noodles to bowls. Halve your eggs, then top your noodles with them. Serve it up.
Onion, Pine Nut and Cavolo Nero Pasta
Midweek meals are the kind most of us cook the most, when you are knackered after work and need something fast. I like these dinners to sit happily in the intersection of REALLY SOOTHING and VEGETABLES PLEASE.
This pasta does just this, by using one of my favourite seasonal vegetables - cavolo nero. It’s a lovely, leathery green that doesn’t require too much cooking, and the bitterness goes beautifully with sweet onions and pine nuts. If you couldn’t find any, kale or chard would work well in its place.
Cooking an onion nicely is a bit of an art, and requires some patience. Here are my top tips for making the best onions possible: