bits and pieces

Last week (or was it the week before?) I tried out a recipe from Martha Stewart Living for “Udon Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms in Ginger Broth.” I’d printed it out awhile ago with some other recipes and figured I’d try to work through a few of them. I tried to overlook the presence of chicken broth, thinking that maybe it’d be ok with the other ingredients, but it was not meant to be.

I prepared it all as directed, with only a few minor changes. The shallot I had become inedible (mold after only a few days home from the store?), so I had to forgo that. And I used less spinach than called for, and I think baby spinach at that. Everything else went together easily enough, and it didn’t look so bad when I had served it up.

Unfortunately, it just tasted bad, and I blame the chicken broth. It even made the shiitake mushrooms, which I really like, taste sad. I had a few bites of it all and just had to stop and eat something else instead. What a disappointment!

So, let this be the final lesson to myself that any so-called “Asian” or “Asian-inspired” recipe that comes from Martha Stewart should be handled with extreme caution or avoided altogether. Especially when it’s a recipe for a noodle soup and it calls for chicken broth. It just never turns out well.