Spoons of marinated soba noodles with crab meat & sesame - Blog Party!!!

The Happy Sorceress is throwing another blog party in cyberspace, and since I travelled a lot last week (including a phantasmagorical trip to Paris over the weekend, to be blogged about shortly, despite the food photography ban imposed on me for the duration of the journey), I figured my contributions could come from a catering I just did recently. Jeanne and I had a lot of fun knocking up 350 pieces of finger food for a birthday party in Fulham on Wednesday and I guess the sheer amount and type of canapés is a perfect fit for the theme "Vegas decadence":

• Skewers of sherry-soaked chestnuts with sage and spicy salami
• Salmon roly-polies
• Parsnip & honey soup shots with parsnip crisps
• Mini-potatoes with wasabi crème fraîche and caviar
• Skewers of roast squash with pumpkin seed pesto & crispy bacon
• Sticks of marinated feta with melon, mint and black olives
• Aubergine & pinenut croustades with parmesan shaving
• Cucumber boats with smoked ham mousse (rtf)
• Spoons of marinated soba noodles with crab meat and sesame (see below)
• Porcini mushroom frittata
• Pastrami & sauce tartare bagel bites

I especially loved these soba noodle spoons - they're really tricky to assemble and for a moment the Cook Sister! and I felt like we could easily take it up with Gordon R on the swearword front... but the flavours are so surprising and intriguing that they're really worth all the hassle. The original recipe for this comes out of my favourite catering bible, Eric Treuille's Canapés. The marinade uses pickled ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar and the noodles soak up all that Eastern goodness for a good few hours... topped with the crab meat and sprinkled with sesame, they're an unusual but very successful combination.
As for the tipple, it'll have to be champagne. Laurent Perrier Rosé being my favourite, but on those rare occasions where I am being sensible and budget-conscious, I go for a cheap and cheerful New World sparkling or even a Prosecco and mix it with something Andrew made me discover at the Regatta in July - Funkin' make a variety of fruit purées and I just love their white peach... I actually found this at a Tesco's superstore the other day. This funks up every bubbly, no matter how cheap, and allows you to sip glamourous "champagne" cocktails on a budget!
So Happy Partying everyone, I'm off to Paris now, but will be thinking of all of you while I meet some foodbloggers there and eat myself through a long list of great restaurants... reports to follow soon!

Spoons of marinated soba noodles with crab meat & sesame
(makes 24)

100 g soba noodles (the dark, buckwheat variety)
1 tsp pickled ginger
1 tsp hot Chinese chilli sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
50 g white crab meat

Finely chop the pickled ginger, then combine with the chilli and soy sauces, vinegar and oils in a container.
Cook the soba noodles according to packet instructions - mine were in Japanese, so I was a bit clueless, but there were 2 Arabic numbers on there... so I figured 6-7 minutes would be what's required. Meanwhile, dry-roast the sesame seeds in a pan untnil they're starting to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Drain the noodles, refresh in cold water, drain thoroughly. Add to the container, toss around (lid on first, please!), then leave to marinate for 4 hours.
When ready to serve, take a small amount of noodles (probably 4 at a time) and create little noodle nests using a fork (just like you eat spaghetti) then carefully place on a spoon.
Sprinkle with sesame and place some crab meat on top.

Comments

[Stephanie]

Johanna, you're now my favorite food blogger...for being so incredibly early! Much appreciated!

And everything sounds and looks *incredible*...very in tune with the theme!

Thanks so much for for taking time to be part of Blog Party!!!

And have a *great* trip...

[Squeezeweasel]

Oh - Paris. My aching heart. Please eat some foie gras for me.

I hope you don't mind, but I've just tagged you for a meme on top ten favourite foods. Hope you have time; I'd be really interested to see what you choose!

[Nicky]

Appetizers on spoons have always been my favorite, as well as soba noodels in all variations! 350 pieces of fingerfood? What a challenge...but if they all looked so tempting ;)

[Pille]

Johanna - that buffet table must have been absolutely yummy! I'm impressed at the choice of your nibbles - all sound really interesting! Well done!

[melissa_cookingdiva]

Wow, what a beautiful piece of art! They sure look delicious too! Good for you, I can imagine your clients were very very happy. Hugs :)

[beastlysum]

wonderful! i'm planning my own dinner as i read....

[Glutton Rabbit]

Wowow! So many types of apetizers and they're all fantastic. I love soba! Your Parsnip and honey soup looks especially scrumptious...