Color-Changing Chilled Noodles with Bluebells
One of my favorite things to do with foraged foods is research recipes from all over the world to see which ones could be adapted to highlight the flavors of the treats in my basket. Once you understand the textures and flavor profiles of the foods you forage, you start to understand how fun it can be to let them shine in unique ways! I used to think that foraging in Idaho meant sauteed morels in butter, steamed fiddlehead ferns, and huckleberry pie. These are all still some of my favorite foods, but as my understanding of wild foods has grown, so has my appetite for novel ways to make them the star of a dish.
Lion’s mane mushrooms’ unique texture and floral oceany flavor make them a great substitute for crab meat. Pickled black walnuts create a punchy sauce that’s similar to A1 Steak Sauce or Worcestershire sauce but, in my opinion, even better. Being able to incorporate my love for the wild plants available in my landscape in recipes from all over the world makes eating doubly pleasurable. It’s also deeply satisfying to get many of my ingredients from the mountainous or coastal landscapes I love so much.
One wonderful thing about living in or near the mountains is that biodiversity increases with altitude, and that seasons for plants also extend further with later arrivals of seasonal change. Whenever I notice that the fiddlehead ferns near my home are too open or the cattails have started turning brown already, I can head up into the mountains to find tightly-curled ferns and cattails that are at the perfect stage for pollen gathering!
Mountain bluebells are one such delight that can only be found at high elevations. They remind me of summers spent on fire lookouts as a child, enchanting me with their light blue and pink colors. My mom told me that the pink ones had been touched by fairies. They continue to enchant and delight me now, especially now that I’ve learned that they are not only edible, but also delicious! I find them refreshing, crisp, and with a delicate savory flavor that reminds me of the seashore. But before we dive into eating them, an important note on safety:
Many different species of flowers are referred to as “bluebells,” many of which are toxic! (That’s why identification via Latin names is so important.) The bluebells I’ve used in this recipe are known as the ‘Mountain Bluebell,’ Mertensia ciliata, which grow high in the mountains here in Idaho and other areas of the Intermountain and Pacific Northwest. I first learned about their edibility in Mountain States Foraging by Briana Wiles. As she says:
“Bluebells lure you in with the iridescent, oceanic shimmer of their blue-pink tubular flowers. Leaves, with the faint richness of an oyster mushroom, take you seaside with their flavor.”
Both the flowers and the leaves are edible raw or cooked, though eating large amounts (like several cups) can cause gastric upset. As with any new food, it’s best to try a small amount first to make sure your body agrees with it.
My first experimental nibble of these enchanting fairy flowers made me think of refreshingly chilled summer foods and a Japanese student we hosted for a summer who was particularly enchanted by mountain bluebells on our hikes in the mountains. Hanae introduced our family to some of her favorite foods, including Mentsuyu broth/dipping sauce with somen noodles, served cold. Long after Hanae returned home, my family continued to make this dish. I always felt wonderful after eating it - satisfied, but still light and refreshed. To me, mountain bluebells and this great Japanese dish seemed like the perfect pair.
Mentsuyu is a Japanese soup base that can be used in noodle-based dishes. It’s diluted more for hot soups, and less for chilled soups, where it’s sort of between a soup and a condiment. Cold cooked noodles are dipped in a diluted mentsuyu mixture and then slurped up happily on a hot summer day. I’ve dressed up my version to make it even more fun, with color-changing noodles and of course the edible bluebells that inspired it!
I also wanted to adapt the mentsuyu recipe itself to be plant-based. Traditionally, it gets its rich depth of flavor from a combination of soy sauce, mirin, seaweed, and bonito fish flakes. Since I wanted this recipe to be plant-based, I turned to my cupboard of wild foods for help. Nettle has a rich slightly mineral flavor that has always reminded me of the coast (I hesitate to say that it’s “fishy” because that can have an unpleasant connotation, but to me it’s a wonderful flavor.) Lion’s mane mushrooms have a rich umami flavor as well. Brewed up together, they make a wonderfully flavorful base for hot or cold soups. I highly recommend making extra and freezing it for another warm summer day ;) Here’s my plant-based adaptation for this summer recipe!
Dipping Sauce:
¾ c. mirin
¾ c. soy sauce
1 palm-sized piece of kombu seaweed
¼ c. dried nettle
¼ c. small pieces of lion’s mane mushroom
½ tsp. Nutritional yeast
1” piece of fresh ginger root, grated
Other:
3-5 rolls of somen noodles (one per person you’re serving)
3 tsp. Butterfly pea powder, optional
Clean kitchen twine
Fresh bluebell* or borage flowers
3 Green onions, chopped
Furikake or other flavorful sprinkle, optional
1 Sliced cucumber
Ice cubes (I used a round mold and put violets inside! Do this the night before.)
Lots of lemon slices
Directions:
First make the dipping sauce: Combine everything and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then strain well and store in the fridge. To use for this dipping sauce, use 1 part of this mixture to 2 parts cold water. This mixture is then called tsuyu.
Get the cucumbers, green onions, and bluebells ready since the noodles cook really quickly.
Add about a gallon of water to a large pot and whisk in the butterfly pea powder. Bring to a boil.
While you’re waiting for the water to boil, tie a section of clean kitchen twine around one end of each bundle before removing the paper wrapper. This will help keep your noodles aligned in the same direction so they’re easier to plate nicely. One bundle per person is a good amount of noodles.
Remove paper sleeves and add the noodles to the boiling water and boil according to package directions. Stir often to help keep the noodles separate. After cooking, immediately drain and rinse under cold running water. Drain well.
Mix the dipping soup according to the amounts in step 1, then top with chopped green onion.
To plate the noodles, hold them up by the tied end and gently run your fingers through them to get them aligned in the same direction. Then lay down on a cutting board and cut off the tied top (the noodles will be stuck together and undercooked in this area.) You can create one big swirl in each plate or several smaller ones. I decided to divide each serving into three.
Swirl the noodles and put them in place. Add some cucumber slices to each dish, then a few bluebell* flower clusters. Add your decorative ice cubes, then sprinkle a bit of furikake or seaweed over the noodles. Serve cold with the lemons and dipping sauce. Instruct your guests to squeeze lemon juice on their noodles and watch them change color! (It’s a slightly delayed reaction, so wait for about a minute to see the full transformation.)
To eat, use chopsticks to pick up noodles or vegetables, then dunk them in the sauce/soup and eat with your face close to the dipping bowl. It’s a messy process for those not accustomed to eating noodles in this way!
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Join me for a little winter night magic as we bake this cake full of rich seasonal flavors and black cocoa!