My Pasta Matchmaker: Asian Pan-Fried Noodles with Shrimp

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"What do you want for dinner?" "Uhhh... you pick..." Seriously, this is the most common conversation in our home.  We know how to cook a few things (and not too badly, I might add), but the food coming out of our kitchen can get a bit tedious.  Not to mention, when family or friends come over, we want to impress them, and by now, they've had all of our "signature" meals.  Here's where my new best friend comes in, Mueller’s® Pasta Matchmaker.  You take a simple quiz by clicking on the photo that best describes what you'd like to cook with, who you're cooking for, and even what the weather is like outside, and Mueller’s® gives you the beautiful photo of a delicious meal and the easy steps to make it for yourself.  They have 30 recipes so you can take the quiz night after night and have something different for weeks!  Here's the recipe it suggested for me:

Last weekend, my parents were in town for my mom's birthday.  I know how much she likes seafood, and it happened to be a nice, sunny day outside, so the quiz gave me Pan-Fried Noodles with Shrimp as my perfect pasta match.

I'm almost half Italian, so I am definitely guilty of thinking of pasta in the Italian sense - as a pairing for meatballs and the framework for lasagna.  Mueller’s® Pasta Matchmaker really showed me the flexibility of pasta and helped me break out of my millennial shell, creating something colorful and delicious.  I loved checking out all my fellow home-cooks' Mueller’s® recipes in their social hub, too!

I use my iPad as a recipe book, so the Mueller’s® website was perfect for me while cooking, but it gives you options to share, download, or even send the recipe to your phone.  Sending the recipe to myself made it super easy when I drove to my local Harris Teeter to pick up all the ingredients I needed, including Mueller’s® Wide Egg Noodles.

Ingredients:

- 6 ounces Mueller’s® Wide Egg Noodles

- 1 pound medium peeled and de-veined shrimp

- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy

- 1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

- optional 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes and/or 1 teaspoon sriracha

- 2 tablespoons canola oil

- 1 cup shredded carrots

- 1 cup thinly sliced red pepper

- 1 cup frozen edamame (shelled)

- 1 cup reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce/marinade

- toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package instructions, omitting salt.  Place drained noodles on a paper towel-lined plate and pat dry.

2. Combine shrimp, 1 tablespoon of soy, pepper, and red pepper flakes/sriracha in a medium bowl.

3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add cooked noodles and remaining soy; cook 5-7 minutes until noodles are browned and lightly crisp.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

4. Add shrimp and carrots to the skillet and cook for one minute on each side, until shrimp begin to pink.  Add in bell pepper and edamame, cook another 2-3 minutes.  Add noodles and teriyaki to skillet, stir to combine, and cook until hot.  

5. Top with sesame seeds and enjoy!

We had the best time over my mom's birthday weekend - and this delicious stir-fry (and that coconut cake for dessert) made for the perfect meal.  I will definitely be using the Pasta Matchmaker every time we host a dinner party.

I definitely encourage you not only try the Pasta Matchmaker quiz, but also participate in the Pasta Matchmaker Challenges, where you can put your own spin on a Mueller’s® classic recipe and submit for a change to win prizes. Contest dates are as follows: Challenge #1 has passed; Challenge #2: January 22-February 4; Challenge #3: February 5-February 18; Challenge #4: February 19-March 4; Challenge #5: March 5-March 18, and Challenge #6: March 19 – April 1.  Click here to start the challenge!

Do you have a favorite ingredient or meal to cook right now?