An Asian Dish from a French Cookbook?

After a busy week, and more leftovers than I originally expected, as well as an extreme Thai craving, I was left with last Friday's planned meal to make tonight for dinner. Sometimes we just don't stick to the plan. I thought this recipe, for Shrimp with Cellophane Noodles, was intriguing, and after tasting it, I was right!

This was a really quick one to pull together, and that was a good thing, because I was pretty tired by the time I got home this evening. I peeled my shrimp and de-veined them quickly. The best part about buying frozen shrimp is that they are usually "e-z peel" which means it does not take a ton of work to clean them up. It's a wonder those are the ones that are usually on sale too - less work, less cost - it makes no sense but I'm not complaining.

I placed some dried mushrooms into a bowl of warm water, allowing them to reconstitute while I brought together the rest of my ingredients. I also put a pot of water on to boil for my noodles. I couldn't find cellophane noodles at my regular grocery store this week, and didn't have a chance to get to my favorite Asian market, so I made do with some Chinese noodles instead. It worked out just fine, although I think the cellophane noodles may have absorbed a bit more of the sauce...we'll just have to try it again!

While my noodles cooked, I heated some peanut oil in wok, sweated some onions and then added those reconstituted mushrooms, chopped, along with some garlic. Thirty seconds later, I added the shrimp to the wok with a mixture of Chinese Five Spice, cayenne pepper, and sugar. As the shrimp began to turn pink, I seasoned the mixture with a generous amount of white pepper and salt, and then poured in some tomato puree. I know, weird, right? There's all these Asian influences, and then...tomato puree!? That was left to simmer for about two minutes, while the shrimp finished cooking.

Meanwhile, I pulled those noodles out of the boiling water and doused them with a splash of sesame oil. After splitting the noodles up between the bowls, I topped them with the shrimp and tomato mixture, with a cilantro garnish. The pop of spice that the cayenne pepper brings, and the notably Asian flavor of the Chinese Five Spice really makes this an intriguing dish. As I worked, I wondered if it would be any good - it seemed so simple, but all over the place - but everything came together so nicely, and made for a really delicious one-dish meal! Yum!!

There's no new menu this week because I realized that we've got a bunch of things in the freezer that I need to use before adding more things to my collection...so we're gettin' creative this week!