Antonia’s Stir Fry Whole Wheat Noodles [Snarkyized]

OK so after watching Episode 8 of Top Chef, I decided to put the $10 meal to the test. As expected, I was well over budget after adding up the cost of all the ingredients. I think I hit the $10 mark after adding up the chicken, noodles, bok choy and red pepper (although stupid Safeway charged me $1.99 for the pepper which I think is highway robbery). I guess you could make a meal from that stuff alone, but the main flavor of Antonia’s dish came from teriyaki sauce which will set you back at least $3 if you get a cheapo brand, and $5 (at Safeway) if you get my fav, Soy Vey.

Anyway, since the Bravo website’s recipe for Stir Fry Whole Wheat Noodles was seriously lacking, I decided to Snarkyize it.

Sooo, I didn’t think that would taste all that great so I changed some stuff in the recipe. Basically, I used all of the ingredients listed above minus the carrots and cilantro (because I forgot the carrots, and I don’t really like cilantro). Here’s what I did:

1. Cut up chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces or strips, and marinate in teriyaki sauce for up to 2 hours.

2. Cook whole wheat pasta (I used linguine) according to package directions. Mine took about 7 minutes so if you have the pasta water boiling and start cooking it right before you start making the chicken/vegetables everything should be ready at around the same time.

2. Drizzle a large pan with just enough oil to coat over medium-highish heat, add chopped onion. Saute until the onions are just starting to become translucent (about 2-3 minutes).

3. Add the chicken pieces and cook for a couple minutes until most of the pinkness goes away. Add the chopped red pepper and stir everything occasionally, until the peppers are just softened.

4. Add the chopped bok choy and cook until the greens are wilted. (Note: I only used the leafy green parts and discarded the white, celery-ish bottoms because they can be pretty hard and have a strong bitter taste which I didn’t think would be tasty with the pasta, but if you want to leave them in — go for it! Just know that the stalks take longer to cook, so I would add them with the peppers before adding the greens.) Also, this is a good time to add the shelled, frozen edamame.

5. At this point all of this stuff has most likely given off some water, which is probably sitting at the bottom of your pan. Carefully pour off as much as you can, and then drizzle the entire mixture with some teriyaki sauce (NOT the stuff you just marinated the chicken in, weirdo). I also put in a couple squirts of sriracha (you could also use hot sauce) because I put it on everything. Mix until everything is lightly glazed with sauce. Set aside.

6. Your pasta should be ready now, so drain it off and place it in a large bowl.

7. I think what the Bravo website recipe lacked was sauce for the pasta (since I think store-bought teriyaki is kind of nasty and the thought of dousing my noodles with it made me kinda barfy), so I made my own using:

• ¼ c. sesame oil
• ¼ c. soy sauce
• 2 T. vinegar (I used rice vinegar because it was all I had)
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 T. hot chili oil (you could substitute just straight hot sauce or sriracha to taste if you don’t have this)

Just whisk it all together and pour it right over the hot noodles.

8. Toss noodles with sauce to coat. Then add the chicken and veggie mixture from before and mix it all together. Also, I had some leftover slivered almonds from something so I toasted those and added them to the pasta, which gave it a cool crunchy element. Totes a great extra if you’re feeling sassy.

9. Marvel at your (somewhat) cheap and tasty creation.

This recipe makes alot of food. Like enough for a whole family or a single hoss.

**Added bonus: this pasta tastes awesome cold, so its nice for snacking leftovers straight from the fridge.**