BRAISED CHICKEN UDON

Reheating time: 7-12 minutes

It’s Monday! Can I get a yeehaw??!! YEEEEEEHAW! If you can’t tell, I am super stoked for dinner tonight. So many of our favorite things! Also, things are happening outside- mostly things involving sunlight and warmer weather. Very exciting. In the meantime, we have provided you with the finest in warmth and comfort food tonight. Braised chicken thighs from Joyce Farms- you can taste the difference in these little baddies. So good. We made some roasted chicken dashi for your slurping pleasure, with organic udon and roasted veggies. Fried shallots top it all off, and sushi rice bowls smothered with togarashi aioli are coming in hot. It may still be a bit chilly outside, so get ready to curl up with a fat bowl of brothy noods and get the cold out. Get in there!

For the udon:

Multi step process here folks, but I promise it’s worth it. Just to give you a baseline understanding here, we’re gonna be warming up the broth in a pot, dropping the noodles in there (they’re cooked, you don’t have to cook them!), and we’ll be broiling the other two components to get them hot and charry. First things first, warm the roasted chicken dashi in a large pot over medium heat. We made this very flavorful and rich so that you can thin it out with some water if you’d like more broth. The choice is yours. While the broth warms up, line a sheet tray with aluminum foil and spread out the roasted mushrooms and cabbage in an even layer. Arrange the braised chicken thighs skin side up, either right on top of the veggies or on the side. Broil the whole tray for 5-7 minutes on low, until the skin turns golden brown and crispy and everything is crackling and hot. Might take a bit longer than 5-7 minutes depending on how strong your broiler is, and how hungry you are. To be honest, I would probably just throw everything in the pot with the broth. But the broiling really does develop the flavor nicely. 

Once your broth is beginning to simmer, and your chicken and veggies are hot, drop the udon noodles right into the broth and give them a stir. These will what up quick, so once they’re in you can drop the heat to low.

Using tongs, grab some hot noods and plot them into a bowl. Pop a chicken thigh or two in the bowl, and a scoop of roasted mushrooms + cabbage. Finally, using a ladle, pour about 10-12 ounces of broth in there. Top it off with some crispy shallots, and enjoy immediately! Note: a generous squirt of sriracha is recommended. Not just right now, but in general. Good rule to follow. 

For the sushi rice:

Cold food! It’s my favorite. This little rice “don” of roasted bok choy, edamame and scallions was intended to be enjoyed cold. Just scoop the rice into a bowl, and drizzle some togarashi mayo on top. This provides a great texture and temperature contrast to the udon, and any excuse to eat this aioli is fine with me. If you are really not into cold food, just microwave the rice till it’s nice and hot. Or fry it in a pan (recommended, microwaves are weird). Just don’t forget the aioli.

That’s it!

Thanks so much for letting us cook for you 🙂 can’t wait to see photos of your beautiful udon bowls on the instagram! #weareweco

SHRIMP + PAPAYA SALAD

Thanks for ordering!

Ok let’s talk about how awesome this dressing is. Let me describe what I see when I taste this dressing and close my eyes: walking down a beautiful sandy beach, somewhere in the Philippines, surrounded by palm trees, blue skies, and perfect waves… holding some sort of cool, refreshing tropical cocktail, just loving life… when suddenly, out of nowhere, a massive papaya comes running at you at full speed, screaming and flailing its arms (papayas have arms???), and right before it makes contact with you it just explodes. Then you wake up. This was a real dream I had one time. Gives you a little peek into my messed up mind. This salad is meant to distract you from the fact that you are not on a beach, drinking cocktails, but instead it’s March and you’re cold. No worries. Fresh green papaya slaw, super garlicky and pungent, is the base, with some shaved and salted cabbage, long beans, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs. Citrusy shrimp on top, that crazy papaya person dressing, and crushed peanuts to top it all off. Mix everything up with the papaya dressing, taste and give it a season with some salt and pepper, and close your eyes to experience the sheer terror of being run down by a massive papaya on a beach in my dream. Mmmmmmm. Delicious 🙂