Leek and Mushroom Noodles

When I saw the Taste & Create event at For the Love of Food, I couldn't wait to join in. Food bloggers sign up, are randomly assigned to each other, and each choose a recipe from each other's blog to cook, photograph, and write a post about.

My assigned partner for this event was Michelle of The Greedy Gourmet. Her blog is full of amazing recipes, but I was immediately attracted to her "Leek and Mushroom Egg Noodles". Leeks and mushrooms are two of my favorites, and The Kid would eat pasta every night if I let him. The addition of honey to the dish intrigued me. It was an unexpected twist, which I hoped would complement these two savory favorites of mine. The easy substitutions for The Kid's food allergies (pasta without eggs and olive oil for the butter) made the recipe irresistible.

Here is how it originally appears at The Greedy Gourmet:

Ingredients

• 250g (9 oz) egg noodles
• 30g (1 oz) butter
• 2 medium garlic cloves, crushed
• 250g (9 oz) trimmed leeks, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 400g (14 oz) mushrooms, washed and cut into ½cm slices
• 30ml (2 tbsp) honey
• salt and pepper, to taste
• sesame seeds, to garnish

Method

1. Boil the noodles according to package directions, drain and keep warm.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. When it starts sizzling add the garlic and leeks. Gently fry the leek mixture for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook gently for another 5 minutes.
4. Spoon the honey into the pan, give the vegetables a stir, add the noodles and then mix everything thoroughly.
5. Season to taste, sprinkle the noodles with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Of course, I strayed a little from the clear, well-written directions. I just couldn't bring myself to cook my beautiful leek for so long. In fact, I put the leeks, garlic, and mushrooms in the skillet at the same time, and cooked them all for between 5 and 10 minutes. When the leek was tender crisp and bright green, I added the honey and mixed in the noodles. The dish was wonderfully quick to cook and the flavors exceptional. Nothing was extraneous. I wouldn't even describe the sesame seeds as a garnish, rather as an ingredient, since they added even more to the dish's taste than to its appearance.

I served this as a side to lemon pepper chicken. The Kid, completely unprompted, declared "These are yummy noodles!" To sum up, this is a deceptively simple pasta dish with rich flavor.