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sovay requested I write up the 20 minute weeknight dinner I produced before square dancing class Tuesday night.
Realize right before you leave work that you have no idea what your plans for dinner are. Exchange frustrating text messages with your boyfriend in which you completely fail to communicate. Unilaterally decide you are going to Be In Charge of dinner. On your way home from work purchase
1 package dried soba noodles
2 large fistfuls of snow peas
1 package tofu (intend to purchase silken tofu but get extra firm cotton tofu by mistake instead. It doesn't actually matter)
1 package mushrooms
1 package miso paste
1 box of crackers
2 packages raspberries
Text your partner and ask him to have a pot of water boiling when you arrive.
Eat an entire package of raspberries in the car on the drive home.
Add noodles to the boiling water. Tell your boyfriend you are very happy to see him but that your stomach is trying to devour itself and he can have kisses after you've made dinner. Eat the second package of raspberries and half the crackers.
Rinse the snow peas and add them to the noodle pot. Rinse the mushrooms and microwave them in a heat proof bowl for two minutes. Strain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid.
Heat cooking oil of your choice in a saute pan and add the mushrooms. Assign another responsible adult to make sure they don't burn while you deal with the noodle pot.
If you have done everything above, the noodles should be more or less done now. Strain the noodles reserving 4 cups of the cooking liquid. Rinse the noodles and peas with cold water to keep them from overcooking.
Add a couple of tablespoons miso paste and the reserved liquid from the mushrooms to the reserved pasta cooking water. Stir until the miso paste is dissolved. If you like such things and have them on hand, add a sheet of nori, or konbu, or a handful of wakame. (If you use konbu, remember to rinse it first, and to remove it before adding the solid ingredients back in.)
Dice the tofu and add it to the broth. Bring the broth back to a gentle simmer until the tofu is no longer refrigerator cold. Or at least, you should do this. Alternatively, remember the tofu at the last minute and dump it, still refrigerator temperature, into your bowls at the table. Spend a moment wallowing in your feelings of failure.
Return the noodles and snow peas to the pot of miso-mushroom broth. Add the sauteed mushrooms. Stir. Serve. Season to taste at the table with rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, or shichimi togarashi.
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