I really like the way udon noodles fill the pasta role in pasta salad as a change from the old macaroni product. This soft, wheat based Japanese noodle swells up when cooked and then takes on a the flavors of whatever else is around. Balancing the moisture when creating a dish with this noodle can be tricky especially when it needs to hold for a while before eaten.
Peas and Parmesan where my 2 key ingredients which inspired the notion of a pasta salad. The next move was to render some bacon and boil some eggs. I love the way cooked egg yolk breaks up and then dissolves into the sauce. Here, I sauteed onions in butter, added red pepper, then the peas, crispy bacon, chunks of avocado, the cut up pieces of 2 boiled eggs, then the udon noodle and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano . Also, it's good to save a bit of the noodle cooking liquid. You use it to moisten the dish to the right level.
Herbs can really take this dish in many good directions, but sometimes.... when we're in the full on summer season.... it's nice to let the simple flavors of the origianl ingredients shine on there own. I was glad in the end that I didn't have herbs handy today.
Watashi no men wa oishiidesu
