Thursday, January 24, 2013

Shrimp & Cellophane Noodles

Surprised to be finding this "Around My French Table".......

Per Nana~
Nana says: "I prefer the chicken liver gateaux."

Sorry, I was really looking forward to this recipe but it just didn't work
 for me. I researched for the tree ear mushrooms and finally ordered them
 from I-Gourmet a few weeks back.  The rest of the ingredients were 
easily found at Wegman's.
I have never cooked cellophane noodles before and after soaking them 
per package instructions found them to be quite gross.  A bit too slimy
 for my taste. I stir fried the onion and garlic, added the mushrooms and just
 knew this was  not good. I could not take the aroma but was not certain 
whether it was the mushrooms or the sesame oil.

I added the shrimp, a bit of tomato puree and it looked better but
 decided not to combine the noodles with the shrimp mixture. Instead I
 prepared a single serving for photos. Hubby was trying to be nice but 
after the first taste he said he truly disliked it. I picked out the shrimp and,
 sorry to say, tossed out everything else.
After reading the P & Q's earlier in the day I thought the problem
 was going to be the tomato puree, but I was wrong.......

Per Tricia~
This was something different, that is for sure.
As usual, I was spoiled rotten and Nana delivered the exotic ingredients 
she tracked down and brought them right to my door.  While the special
 mushrooms were indeed a coup to have delivered, one of the most
 valuable things Nana shared  was the yellow post it note telling me 
to actually read the "P's and Q's" this week.  
She said there was some issue involving the tomato puree.

By the time I finished reading, I decided to go rogue and exclude it 
completely.   My taste testers liked the shrimp and mushrooms well 
enough,  but complained that these noodles were too "neutral". 
 Overall no one wanted a repeat.  The cellophane  noodles were a very
 interesting texture and I had to take one photo showing them without 
the topping, as they do indeed look like cellophane.  


Always an adventure....... 

17 comments:

  1. Nana - I hear you. I almost think that even I would have preferred the gateaux (if that gives you any indication of how bad my experience was with this one...) - I did the same thing - picked out the shrimp and tossed the rest...
    Tricia - always an adventure indeed. You are lucky you got the post-it warning...
    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm...I really thought it would be a better dish without the tomato puree...and you even had the chinese ear mushrooms and cellophane noodles. I'm sorry this also didn't work out for you two. Both of your dishes look so good too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Both of these dishes look great, which just goes to show that looks can be deceiving! This one was just so strange. And we too found the noodles to be too "neutral." I didn't see that they added anything to the dish. The Asian flavors were okay for us, but we're used to it. Still, I'm not sure if we'd repeat this either. Nice effort from both you ladies, though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I picked out the shrimp, too - those noodles were just too weird!

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've cooked a lot with rice noodles and I would never soak them and boil them. I don't understand why Dorie said to do that. You only soak noodles if you putting them in a stir fry.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interesting. Because I thought that the problem was the tomato puree. Apparently not.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tricia and Nana, I an not a fan of cellophane noodles either - they are rather slimy and tasteless. I did enjoy the shrimp with the tomato sauce, possibly because my proportions of ingredients did not comply with the recipe to a T, and Nana, I hate the smell of dried mushrooms too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't have a problem with rice noodles and actually enjoy them, but you are right in suggesting that they need more flavor! I used a small amount of tomato puree (just enough to carry the spices) and I also used a different mushroom. I found it quite tasty with a squeeze of lemon at the end, too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree, no repeat! I did not like this, though it was edible enough that I didn't toss it, I just didn't enjoy it. I thought the problem would be the puree, but it was (1) just too many mushrooms and (2) not much taste all, surprising given all the exotic ingredients. Oh well, next week will be better, hopefully!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your Nana was right. Read the P&Q. I did but went ahead and added the puree anyway. Silly Girl!! The fragrance before was wonderful After---not so much. Ditto - not a keeper.

    ReplyDelete
  11. LOL, you were supposed to toss the noodles with sesame oil and it makes all the difference in texture. Also, in Asian cooking, the noodles soak up and take on the seasonings you add in - they are supposed to be neutral and the joy of those noodles is that they take on the flavor of each different dish you make with it... I think you should try the Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup in AMFT. It uses the same noodles and I think you will like it better in that..

    ReplyDelete
  12. After seeing a bunch of these posts I'm thinking I didn't use the right noodles (and I'm not sorry). Mine were called Mei-fun and I thought they were really tasty. They definitely did not look as see-through as some of the ones I'm seeing. Sorry this wasn't a total hit for you but next week's veggies sound pretty tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nana and Tricia: this truly does not seem to be a recipe that will make many re-appearances after this week´s FFwD. After I read the recipe, I decided to make a few changes (which I do not usually do with Dorie´s recipes) and in the end everyone seems to have been happy, although I did not really use many of the original ingredients. But it is indeed a shame to use all these wonderful ingredients and not be able to really enjoy them in the end. Well, looking forward to next Friday´s recipe - it looks nice. Wishing you both a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like that some of the photos don't have the tomato sauce in the noodles. I think I would've made it that way myself.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I changed the recipe quite a bit and we enjoyed it. I'm glad I didn't stick with the original this time 'round.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I did like the dish...but probably won't make it again! It was my first time using the cellophane noodles...they are a little strange as are the mushrooms, this dish was a real experience!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nana was right. The chicken livers over this any day! Next week's dish seems more promising!

    ReplyDelete