Lo Mein

Dinner tonight was Chicken Lo Mein. I diced two boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. Added some minced garlic, minced ginger and a little tamari to marinate while I chopped the rest of the goodies:

On to the Shitakes....I love saying Shitake....Shitake....Shitake....ok, enough of that. But isn't it a great word? So take a bag of dried Shitakes and put em in a small microwavable bowl. Add 1/2 cup hot water, cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents with a paring knife, and microwave for 30 seconds. Let stand about 5 minutes.

Take out the mushrooms then pour the liquid through a small strainer lined with a paper towel into a measuring cup. Set aside 1/4 cup of the liquid in a bowl and add 3 TBSP Oyster Sauce and 3 TBSP Tamari (low sodium soy is ok but Tamari is better). Trim and discard the stems (kitchen scissors work great for this part) then slice the caps into strips (the kitchen scissors work great for this as well):

This is the first time I've used Shitakes (i know, I just want to keep sayin it). Aren't they pretty? And the mushroom juice is key for the sauce. So on to the rest of the ingredients. Clockwise from the upper right...the sliced Shitakes, a bunch of bean sprouts, 3/4 head of Napa cabbage sliced, minced garlic & ginger, sliced red pepper, 4 green onions (green parts only and the scissors work great here again):

Here is where you can put the water on to boil for the noodles. We used Dreamfield's low carb spaghetti noodles. Salt the boiling water, add the noodles and cook for 7-8 minutes (box says 9 but that is too long).

While the noodles are cooking, heat a large non-stick skillet over med-high heat for 3 minutes. Add 1 TBSP oil and swirl to coat. Add the marinated chicken and saute for a few minutes.

Remove from pan. Add the mushrooms and peppers and saute for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and saute for another minute.

Move to the side and add the green onions, ginger and garlic to the center. Add another 1/2 TBSP oil. Cook about 10 seconds then stir it all together.

Add the sprouts and mushroom liquid mixture. Toss to combine.

Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse in cold water. Put the noodles back into the hot pan, drizzle with Sesame oil and toss to coat (i like to keep the noodles separate instead of adding them all to the skillet with the sprouts and sauce). Put some noodles in a bowl and ladle the mixture on making sure you get some of the delicious sauce with it.

 This was so good. Better than any restaurant Lo Mein I've had. Enjoy!