Shitake and Scallion Lo Mein

This is a fairly quick, surprisingly good weekday dish from Food and Wine Magazine. It is vegetarian, but you could add braised tofu or some sort of meat to the finished product if you so desire.

1 pound wide lo mein noodles (I used the Chow Mein noodles from the Asian section of the supermarket)
1/4 pound snow peas, halved diagonally
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin (Asian market or Asian section of supermarket)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
6 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (totally forgot to add this, still good)


In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the noodles until tender; add the snow peas to the noodles in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain the noodles and snow peas and rinse under cold water until cool.

In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce with the mirin and sesame oil.

In a very large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil until shimmering. Add the shiitake and cook over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of canola oil, the scallions and ginger and stir-fry until the scallions soften, about 3 minutes. Add the water and cook over moderate heat, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, 1 minute. Add the noodles, snow peas and soy sauce mixture to the skillet and cook, tossing the noodles until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cilantro and serve.