Before living on the west coast, I had never tried the magical dish of garlic noodles. I’m not sure why, but the rest of the country is living in a garlic noodle wasteland. Buttery and garlicky, with an addictive undertone that you just can’t place - bringing garlic noodles to the midwest and east coast is an issue all political parties should get behind! Kenji has been one of my favorite recipe authors since his days at Serious Eats - how could I not try his rendition?
I got this book for Mother’s Day after seeing weeks and weeks of amazing recipes created by my cousin. I am seriously considering doing a multi-week examination myself here - almost every recipe looks amazing!
Ingredients:
Shrimp:
8oz frozen raw shrimp [I like Costco’s tail off frozen 31-40 shrimp]
1 ½ c. Room temperature water
½ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp baking soda
Noodles:
4 TB butter
20 medium cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1 lb dry spaghetti noodles
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
Scallions (optional)
Defrost and brine the shrimp at the same time (Kenji swears that brine makes the shrimp plumper and juicier). Mix the water, salt, and baking soda and add the shrimp. Allow to sit for 15 minutes to an hour. Drain well.
Melt the butter in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic (and shrimp, if using. I forgot to do my shrimp at this stage - don't be like me!) and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Stir to combine and remove from heat.
Meanwhile, boil water and add pasta. Stir to make sure it’s not clumping. Cook about 2 minutes less than recommended time for the noodles. Pull out of the water with tongs and add to the wok with the sauce (it will be wet with pasta water still). Increase the heat to high, add the cheese, and stir and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 30 seconds. If the sauce is too watery, let it keep reducing. If it looks greasy, splash more cooking water into it and allow to re-emulsify.
I love, love, love me some garlic noodles. I usually make these with magical Maggi sauce (seriously, I have no idea why it makes things so good). Kenji's were good, but I’d definitely tweak for next time. I pulled most of the noodles out with tongs, but had some that lingered, so I drained the pot - forgetting to pull out some extra water. I would also double the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce - their flavor was a little too delicate for me. I loved the large quantity of garlic that was not biting, but just flavorful. Also, I will never not brine my shrimp again!
Rating: Great
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