Jack has been requesting udon ever since we got back from Japan (over a year ago), so finally, tonight, udon he got. This is not traditional udon – and that’s my disclaimer. I would love to be able to say that we went to Japan and came home able to share something remotely authentic. The truth is that we pointed to things on menus and just hoped that no one would put something in front of me that was still moving. (Jack on the other hand is ok with food that still moves). One day we’ll hopefully become more diligent ingredient-notating travelers. Until then, next time we’re at game night and “no tentacles or squiggly legs” comes up on a charades card, we’ve got that one in the bag. This dish was inspired by a foggy distant memory of a dish we ate on a dark, cold, rainy night in Tokyo. We were at this restaurant where their entire menu was based around Japanese leeks (neat concept right?). They served an udon dish that I remember to be one of my favorites of the trip – it was sweet and salty, and a light glistening golden brown. And that’s about all I can remember about it except for how quickly I polished it off. I should also mention that I added a few extras that were not part of the memory… tofu to make it a full meal with protein, these neat hon shimeji mushrooms that popped up at my store, and some chopped nori because I just like it.
