garlic noodles

I originally discovered these noodles years ago when I had the famous roasted crab and garlic noodles at Thanh Long in San Francisco.

Today, you can find these garlic noodles on the menus of many Vietnamese restaurants. Garlicky, buttery and filled with umami, these noodles hook you on the first bite!

This recipe uses LOTS of garlic- 2 heads to be exact! Cooking the garlic will mellow it some but it's really an in-your-face garlic dish. If the thought of 2 heads of garlic sounds daunting, I guess you could use only one...but what fun would that be?

garlic noodles
2 lbs fresh egg noodles

2 heads [!] of garlic,
  separated, peeled + finely minced

1/4 cup of oil (50% dark sesame; 50% vegetable)

1/2 cup of butter

2-3 tablespoons fish sauce

2-3 tablespoons oyster sauce

1-2 tablespoons Maggi seasoning

2 teaspoons sugar

8 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems removed + sliced

8 oz baby spinach leaves

method

Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil mixture to prevent sticking. Set aside.

In a saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil mixture and 2 tablespoons of butter. Add mushrooms and cook until they begin to release their juices. Add 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. Continue to saute until them mushrooms glisten. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large pan, heat the remaining butter and oil mixture. Add fish sauce, oyster sauce, Maggi seasoning, sugar and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add the noodles, mushrooms and spinach, tossing thoroughly. Heat until spinach is wilted. Serve.

Serves 8-10.

For Crab Noodles

Steam 1 dungeness crab. Remove crab 'butter' from the crab and reserve. Crack and shell crab, maintaining large chunks. Toss the crab 'butter' with the noodles. Serve with crabmeat on top of noodles.

For Prawn Noodles

Saute 1 lb large prawns (21/25 count) with 2 tablespoons of garlic and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce. Combine this mixture with the noodles and toss thoroughly.