Last night, I attended a class about soups and noodles from Asia. I liked all the dishes, but the spicy mustard greens with Asian noodles was my favorite. We used angel hair pasta instead of somen noodles. (Those are kind of hard to find in this town). I volunteered to work on the noodle salad solely because it contained duck confit. The ramen broth was delicious. I think it was better than the pho broth.
Both soups had fixings and broth. The interesting thing about the pho was that the broth was still boiling in a pot. One of the fixings was a plate of thinly sliced raw beef. After adding the desired vegetable fixings, you were to add the raw beef and then ladle some boiling broth into your bowl. The beef would immediately start cooking from the hot broth. The final step was to squeeze a lime wedge over the bowl.
I liked the salad despite it having fruit on it. I do not typically fruits on my savory dishes. Also I did not mind the cold noodles like I thought I would.
The ramen noodles were made from scratch by two classmates. I had made pasta in another class so I did not feel like I needed to repeat this activity in this class.
Class description: Chase away the cold weather with bowls of delicious soups and noodles from Asia. Tonight we make rich Beef Pho and Smokey Pork Ramen; these dishes sure to warm you up. Add a duo of tasty noodle dishes and you’ll feel you are dining in a cozy restaurant in Chinatown. Our menu includes: Hearty Beef Pho, Momofuko Famous Ramen, Spicy Mustard Greens with Asian Noodles, and Crispy Shredded Duck & Noodle Salad. Yummy! (Hands-On)
Per usual the menu items were divided up among the class members. I worked with one classmate to make the Crispy Shredded Duck & Noodle Salad.
Crispy Shredded Duck & Noodle Salad
We started with the usual tray of ingredients already measured out.
This recipe used duck confit. Because of time constraints the duck confit was already prepared.
We cut the meat from the bone and shredded it.
We prepared the noodles. This involved rice noodles that would (after boiling) be tossed with a solution of sugar, salt, and rice vinegar.
So we boiled the noodles.
It took a long while for the noodles to get soft. Once they reached the softness desired, they were drained with cold water.
We then mixed the salt, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl and then toss the noodles in the solution.
We then started preparing the produce items. The basil (left) was sliced chiffonade style. The Thai basil (right) leaves were plucked from the stems.
The nectarines (left) and cucumber (right) were sliced with a mandolin.
The cilantro leaves (left) were plucked from the stems. The shallot (right) was sliced thinly.
Next the shallot slices were going to be fried so we separated them into rings.
And then fried them.
Finally the salad was put together by using a piece or two of Boston lettuce as a bed. Then we added the rice noodles, crispy duck, cucumber slices, nectarine slices, Thai basil, basil, and cilantro. Finally we topped the salad with several fried shallots.
The Other Menu Items
Hearty Beef Pho – beef broth, onion, ginger, lemon grass, cinnamon, black peppercorns, star anise, sirloin tip, bean sprouts, basil leaves, mint leaves, cilantro leaves, jalapeño peppers, lime, hoisin sauce, and fish sauce.
Momofuku Famous Ramen – consisted of broth, noodles, and toppings
Broth – nori, water, shiitake mushrooms, chicken, pork bones, smoked bacon, scallions, onion, carrot, dark soy sauce, mirin, and salt
Ramen Noodles – bread flour, vital wheat gluten, kosher salt, baking soda, water
Toppings – boiled egg, bamboo shoots, nori, braised mustard greens, and sesame oil, smoked pork, and pork belly
Spicy Mustard Greens with Asian Noodles – angel hair pasta, peanut oil, vegetable oil, cremini mushrooms, ginger, garlic, dried pepper flakes, chicken stock, mustard greens, marbled beef, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and sesame seeds
If Only This Were Springfield 
A lot of flavor in this post!