I KNOW WHAT YOU ATE LAST EASTER

Too much, probably. Same here. You might need a clean and green, light but super-tasty noodle salad to even the balance. Same here.

What do you do when you’ve eaten way too much for days on end and you don’t really need anything more, but it’s dinner time and you have to have something?

Here’s where you should keep soba noodles on your speed dial, because they’re earthy and slippery and silky, and they make you feel all clean and green, like this.

Get a pack from the supermarket or Asian food store now, and leave it in the cupboard, where it will last for years. According to this FABULOUS book called Noodle by Terry Durack that I have on my shelves, soba noodles are made from a combo of wheat flour and buckwheat flour, while green cha soba noodles are made with matcha, green tea.

To cook ’em, add to boiling water and simmer for 3 minutes. Give one a test, then drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.

So here’s my lovely clean-and-green noodle salad, to help your body forgive you your transgressions. If that’s a leap too far into spa territory, I can also offer you a dark-and-dirty noodle bowl, below, that takes as long to put together as it does to cook the noodles. (Which is three minutes. Pay attention).

CLEAN AND GREEN SOBA NOODLE SALAD

Pesto gives the noodles instant character, but you could use salsa verde or green goddess, or just coat them in sesame oil. Serve with kim chi for crunch. Serves 2.

• 100 g soba noodles

• 2 tbsp pesto

• 100 g frozen edamame

• Handful of green beans, halved on the diagonal

• 100 g silken tofu, drained and cut into cubes

• Half avocado, sliced

• Half small cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks

• Handful of fresh coriander

• 1 tsp sesame seeds, white or black or both

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp mirin

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• Half tsp sea salt

COOK the soba noodles in simmering salted water for 3 minutes or until just tender.  Drain and rinse in cold water.

DRAIN again, and toss in the pesto until well-coated. Divide between two plates.

COOK the beans and edamame in simmering salted water for 2 minutes, drain and pod the edamame, discarding pods.

WHISK together olive oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, mirin and sea salt.

TOSS the green beans, edamame, cucumber and coriander in the dressing and arrange on plates.

COAT the avocado and silken tofu gently in remaining dressing and arrange on plates.

SCATTER with sesame seeds and serve.

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Or maybe you’d like a walk on the dark side of planet soba? Grab a pack of Japanese mushrooms from the supermarket, cook them in soy and mirin, toss with your noodles and a shower of togarashi sprinkles, and dig in.

DARK AND DIRTY SOBA NOODLE BOWL

Serves 2

• 100 g Japanese mushroom mix

• 100 g soba noodles

• 3 tbsp soy sauce eg Kikkoman

• 1 tbsp mirin

• 2 tsp miso paste

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• Togarashi Japanese sprinkles

• 100 g silken tofu, drained

• 1 tsp sesame seeds, white or black or both

• Handful of fresh coriander sprigs

SLICE any shitake and king mushrooms, and trim the roots of enoki.

COOK the soba noodles in simmering salted water for 3 minutes or until just tender, then drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.  

COMBINE soy sauce, mirin, miso paste, oyster sauce, sesame oil and a couple of good shakes of togarashi in a pan and gently heat, stirring, until smooth.

ADD the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes or until tender, turning to help them absorb the sauce.

ADD the noodles and toss well. Add the silken tofu and gently toss.

DIVIDE between bowls, scatter with sesame seeds and coriander, and serve with more togarashi.

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SO WHAT DID I EAT FOR EASTER, YOU ASK?

Started Thursday evening in Surry Hills with cocktails at The Rover (great room), and a lush dinner at Pellegrino 2000. There may have been Amaro involved.

Then hot crossies for breakfast on Good Friday, and dim sum at Mr Wongy, because it was my birthday and stuffing myself with little gift-wrapped dumplings is what I like to do on my birthday.

Then a shitload of caviar at home, with home-made buckwheat blinis (click for recipe). The next day, brunch at the new Blackwood Bondi on their signature scram.

Then cocktails at Icebergs’ gorgeous little residency from Melbourne’s Bar Americano - very particular - on until May 1 just before Icebergs closes for renos.

And dinner at the sparkling new Topikos on Bondi Beach, so that I could have pita bread and tarama and keftedes and fried whitebait and pretend I’m in Mykonos.

Then Terry cooked some divine salt beef and horseradish mash because he found gen-u-ine pickled brisket at Field to Fork butchery in Bondi. And one of my lovely neighbours stopped me in the street and offered to bake me a cake! I would have said no, but for the fact that he is a great baker. Thanks Ezza!

And so it became necessary to have something clean and green as reparation, antidote and intervention. I even found this under the table three days later, from the birthday shenanigans.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to subscribe for more Jill Dupleix Eats in your inbox every Thursday.  And special thanks to my right-hand man, Terry Durack, for turning my birthday into an easter egg hunt, only with negronis instead of chocolate.

And thank you to everyone who left a comment about kitchen renovations on the newsletter and on Instagram; I couldn’t have hoped for better advice from people who’ve been there and done it.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.