I don’t wear matching socks.
You are going to discover that in about three photos. And I just didn’t want to not mention it and then have it be the brontosaurus in the room. It’s too early in the morning to have to deal with brontosauruses in a two-by-nothing apartment. There’s no space or time or energy for it.
Usually I at least get the color right so that when a little bit of sock peeks up over my sneaker, I don’t scare the masses away or become the talk of the town. But it was a Sunday on the day I took these pictures and I was supposed to be in my room, writing an ethics paper, banned from all human contact except for that of my roommates who are used to my deviant sock mismatching ways.
So it goes. I don’t wear matching socks. Now you know.
Were you guys aware that wasabi is not actually a neon green substance that comes out of a tube? That actually it’s that crazy funky looking thing up there that would give kohlrabi a serious run for its money in an alien life form beauty pageant?
Truer words were never spoken.
So how did I get my grubby little hands on such an ugly/delicious piece of produce, might you ask? Well, for the final round of the MarxFoods Ridiculously Delicious competition, we were over-nighted a top secret (perishable!) mystery ingredient that we would then have to turn into a culinary masterpiece. There was a lot of speculation about what this top secret (perishable!) mystery ingredient would be. Brian, Azmina, Shannon and I spent all of last week littering the Twitter airwaves with our guesses.
And then. It arrived.
“It” being this pretty/ugly little rhizome that I had no idea what to do with.
(And oh look! There are the mismatching socks. Joy.)
I thought long and hard about going the sweet route with it but I was pretty sure that nothing could rival those wasabi crystallized ginger dark chocolate brownies. Nothing.
So then I totally switched gears. All of a sudden, thoughts of wasabi lasagna, wasabi pizza, and all sorts of wasabi fusion dishes were coursing through my veins and into my thoughts. But then, as it so often does. It all came down to sushi.
Now. If you know me, you know that when I go out for sushi, I always order a sweet potato tempura roll. Always. Without fail. It’s essentially the only deep fried thing that I eat and I refuse to feel even a speckle of guilt about it. So this pasta dish is a play on that. The pasta is homemade and is infused with some fresh and dried ginger that give it a nice hint of spice. An ode to pickled ginger, if you will. A condiment that I adore so much that I’d pretty much be happy to just sit around eating a jar of the stuff. Then, the sweet potato sauce which is Thai in essence. A little bit sweet until you get hit with the spice and wasabi flavor that really isn’t a kick in the face but is an undertone that makes you moan after you take a bite.
You’ll be in so much heaven, you won’t even care that your socks don’t match. Yes, even the guy in the back who is anal retentive enough to iron his underwear. I promise.
Homemade Ginger-Infused Pasta
Makes about 1 pound
3 cups AP flour or half AP/half semolina
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
4 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1/4 tsp dried ginger
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water, plus more as needed
1. Combine the flours and salt in a bowl or work surface, creating a well in the center. Crack the eggs into the well. Using a mixer or by hand, slowly mix, incorporating the egg into the flour mixture a little at a time. Once you have a dry shaggy dough, mix in the gingers, olive oil and water. Knead until dough is fairly smooth and homogeneous.
2. Divide the dough into four portions and cover with a damp towel. Allow to rest for 20 minutes. Using a pasta maker (or rolling by hand!) thin and cut the pasta as desired.
3. To cook, boil in salted water until al dente. Drain well and serve.
Homemade Ginger Pasta with Sweet Potato-Wasabi Sauce
Serves 4, an Eats Well With Others Original
2 large sweet potatoes, about 1 1/2 lb total
14 oz light coconut milk
1 tsp red curry paste
2 tbsp fresh grated Daruma wasabi (or spice it up with sriracha if you don’t have wasabi!)
3 1/2 tsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 lime
1 16 oz package frozen peas
home ginger pasta or linguine of your choice
salt and pepper to taste
1. Wash and peel the sweet potatoes. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook sweet potatoes in it until fork-tender.
2. Mash sweet potatoes. Place in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Mix in the coconut milk, red curry paste, wasabi, coconut sugar, and juice from half a lime. Turn heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes so flavors can meld. Add in the peas and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss with pasta and serve.
I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights, which is hosted this week by Claire of Chez Cayenne!
Those are super-ugly, no question. But, oh my, you have invented a fabulous plateful! Love, love those ingredients!
oh man oh man. saw this title and thought “she’s done it again,” except the homemade pasta part is a bit too adventurous for me. hmmm. why doesn’t marx food stock your homemade ginger pasta so that i can buy this and make this recipe?? i’m full of fabulous ideas, i know.
Homemade pasta is the ultimate although kind of fussy to prepare. You made a big effort here and the results are beyond words! Great looking pasta!
wow! I’ve never seen this!! nice work!
Wow what a gorgeous prince of a dish from such an ugly toad of a rhizome. Fantastic pasta.
Well done for making your own pasta! I’m hoping to get a pasta maker one of these days and then I’ll experiment with something like this.
Mmm, ginger must nicely zest up the flavor of this pasta. I must try it because I love ginger.
This looks incredible! I’d probably be too lazy to make that pasta but the rest of the dish I could do:-)
My dear, you are a culinary genius!
Your ginger pasta are totally awesome (and I might finally try to make homemade pasta because of you) and a sweet potato/wasabi sauce is an equally exciting innovation!!
Great innovative fusion dish.
The green wasabi from tubes – its probably not real wasabi but mustard since its cheaper.
A friend of mine is color blind but has no trouble with matching socks!
Que de saveurs dans ces pâtes maison. Je suis impressionnée. Bravo!
Seriously, you’ve once again blown me away. Ginger pasta? O-M-G.
Also, on an as important note, I never wear matching socks either. I don’t have the time to match socks and it wouldn’t matter because the dog usually eats one from each pair anyway.
Best of luck to you in this round!
Tell me again why you’re in med school and not culinary school?
Incredible dish, Joanne, seriously. That wasabi thing looks reminds me of the Oods from Dr. Who…
Yummy…this looks and sounds so delicious and flavorful!
I love that your socks don’t match. I’ve left the house a few times with two different shoes, so I can relate. 🙂
My dear, this pasta looks fantastic, the flavors all working beautifully with one another. Isn’t fresh wasabi a magical thing (i actually ate little slivers of it)?
Love this!!!
A stroke of genius in that pretty little analitical mind Joanne.
can u please come over and make this tonight? I am close, only in NJ. I will pay for your tolls.
I am not kidding.
Sounds Fantastic! Love the flavors in there..yumm..yum!
LOVE peas in pasta! This looks so good!
Too funny about your socks; I guess you have enough to think about already without worrying about your socks..lol You sure did think of a great way to use the wasabi. It is really ugly, but the dish is gorgeous and looks delish! Your homemade pasta noodles look amazing!
and now I need these ginger noodles. please and thank you! 🙂
First time I had fresh Wasabi, the angels sang. I was like “what? how?…oh my” It’s nothing like that powdered nonsense you buy at the store. I also recently has fresh tumeric. Again, nothing at all like what you would buy ground up in a tub. It was awesome. Outstanding pasta dish here, Joanne. And of course nothing compares to homemade.
Now, let’s talk about this sock issue. I’m very troubled by it. Very. I’m so OCD that I could never even function if I was wearing unmatched socks. Or when/if my socks shift/turn even a tiny bit, I will stop whatever it is I’m doing, to fix that. Also, where the hell do all the socks go? We put them in the washing machine. And then they’re gone. It’s one of life’s little mysteries. And annoying.
Awww… your mix matched socks are too cute. And I have honestly never seen wasabi before in my life. The non-tube version. When I got to that picture, I was shocked! So interesting!
I love the idea of ginger-infused pasta and the mismatched socks too. I am one for mismatched socks and not caring about my clothes, most of the time. Hey that wasabi looks beautiful, in a surrealistic way.
Ginger-infused pasta – woo hoo! I like the way you modeled this pasta dish after your favorite sweet potato tempura roll. I bet this dish really brings the heat!
Love the mismatched socks.
this is awesome hun 🙂 i almost went italian, but wound up with too many dessert ideas! and i wish i wore matching socks 😉
Girl i was gonna totally get at you about them socks… but you owned it so its okay now LOL. I cannot wear mismatched socks. I dont know why. the “I dont care” button in my brain is broken. Its set to “Obsess over everything stupid”.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the inspiration for this dish! its brilliant. And I really think you have outdone yourself. the texture of that pasta is calling me.
Whats your address. I will bring the peanut butter pie. You leave this pasta out.
This looks so fantastic, I literally want to go through my screen and take a bite!
And yes, we definitely should set up a date to get together! I’ll email you 🙂
I am so into that Ginger infused pasta!!! I made homemade pasta ONCE and it was pretty good but there was certianly room for improvement!
Now that wasabi – ugly yes – but stangly beautiful too 🙂
YES, I love unusual sauces like this! I often make sauce from pumpkin puree, so sweet potato is undoubtedly a stellar option as well. Totally putting this into the dinner rotation- Maybe with more curry paste and less wasabi, to placate the rest of the family, though.
Ok… Now you’ve done it. I’m starving! For both sushi and this fab pasta! It looks so beyond amazing. I love anything with sweet potatoes and wasabi, so I’d say this is a home run!!!
Oh my. See I learn something new every day. I had no idea that wasabi looked like that. And here I was being all smug throwing kohlrabi posts about. Ok ok, you win. I should say wasabi does look more alien and weird but it is oh so fabulous. I could swim in a spicy wasabi sea.
wouaouh, I would like to taste some
Delphine
Seriously – you have outdone yourself with this one. I want some. NOW!!
This sounds fantastic…great job! I can only imagine your initial reaction opening the package and seeing that ugly thing 🙂
You are officially the fanciest girl on the block. Most of us (this Duo included) would probably not venture out to get the wasabi root, but you did. It’s cool to ask your fave sushi spot if they have it. Some places will, and it totally rocks over our commercialized version of wasabi. Anyways, fantastic dish. Lots of crazy flavors going on!
Oh I definitely will get around to making this (and the wasabi brownies have been bookmarked since posting) eventually. I wont make my own pasta. So Ill add a pinch of extra ginger. And it will surely rock my socks off.
It’s still morning around these parts. So explain why I want this- NOW.
You’re a creative genius! This may be my favorite recipe from your blog ever. (Of course, give me 10 minutes to peruse past recipes and my tune may change–you make everything look and sound delicious =)
What a great combination of flavors! Thanks for sending it over to Presto Pasta Nights.
Oooh fantastic!! I can’t get fresh wasabi here, but we loved having it everywhere in Japan. This is just gorgeous!!
Mismatched socks – well my uptight side finds that weird. But my appetite wants that pasta dish! And seriously, that is my first view of real wasabi, and now I must have it!
I wouldn’t have noticed the socks…really….not with a beautiful dish like this sitting in front of me on the screen.
Ha! That is too funny. I think I have a photo or two featuring my socks as well.
This sauce sounds amazing, and I’m not just saying that. Sweet potatoes are my friend.
That looks awesome.. I had no idea that this was wasabi, I have never seen it whole only in pieces and its definately weirder the kolerabi. Yeah for the mismatched socks and great dish
Pasta looks wonderful and that ginger sure looks weird..:)
Ginger pasta? wow that sounds AWESOME!
Wow, very interesting combination of flavours! Great use of wasabi, love the kick!
Joanne, you’ve done it again — combined my favorite flavors in a creative way. Thanks for showing the great wasabi in its natural state . . . I love pasta, wasabi and ginger; could eat it every day!
Wasabi looks weird I know they are unmatchable. This homemade pasta sure looks delicious, and also it has heat from wasabi.
What a fabulous combination! You continue to amaze me, Joanne. 🙂
Ginger pasta sounds divine. Count me in on a plateful!
Holy shit. That is hideous. BUt aren’t the coolest things on earth always the ugliest for some reason? I really love that you made your own pasta here, and then somehow combined it with sweet potato. You’re truly amazing, Joanne.
Dear Joanne, Don’t worry about the socks as long as they were clean…and don’t forget you were cooking up a delicious and healthy meal…so the mismatched socks are definitely excused now…Love wasabi and ginger so I am sure this was delish! Blessings, Catherine xox
What a fabulous dish! Loved your post…mismatching socks and all. 😉
What a fun post! Those wasabi things are sort of scary looking but you turned out a masterpiece. Looks delicious
Gosh, that wasabi would give celeriac a run for its money in an anti-beauty pageant. Unlike your socks, which are at least the same colour. The pasta and sauce sounds so zingy and fantastic. I think I’d refer to it as ‘noodles’ because of the Asian flavours.
I can’t believe I’ve never seen wasabi plant before! Poor things are the ugliest edible thing I’ve ever seen but I sure do love wasabi.
Home made pasta is the only way to go. Once you’ve had it there’s no going back to the pre-packaged stuff. I am going to have to buy a pasta maker attachment for my KitchenAid just to make this recipe!!!
I read the title of this post and thought, “no way”. But you kind of sold me. And those colors – love the purple napkin. I am a huge fan of fresh wasabi – it’s so much milder. I laughed about the pickled ginger. I take the boys to a conveyor belt sushi place and I always end the meal with a plate full of pickled ginger.
Man, I wish I could reach into the screen and eat those noodles, they look absolutely amazing! Your roommates are the luckiest people on the planet.
Qué horror! No matching socks? Obviously, I kid. We still love you even if one of your socks is striped and the other has rabbits on it:)
We definitely need to grab sweet potato tempura sushi sometime! Wei should come also, that would be so fun!
If I made this for my family I would be their hero. They are serious wasabi lovers.
oh why waste your time matching socks when u can cook up delish ideas like this? ginger and wasabi! and so glad u used fresh wasabi as well. i bet this is great for cold weather!
I salute you, Joanne! These are really hard to come by and when they get air flown from japan, they cost a bomb! And here you are with 3 rhizomes… You have to eat sashimi!
I love the mismatched socks almost as much as I love this dish. Life’s too short to sit around pairing up all one’s socks! There’s pasta to be made and weird looking wasabi to eat.
Thanks for the congratulations. PS We ate bo ssam at Momofuku this past weekend in a weird last-minute kind of way. YUM.
What a wonderful combination! Love it. And, I was just making fun of my nieces today for wearing mismatched socks…they’re 10 and 9 😉
What amazing pro looking pasta ..amazing color and texture.Never saw fres wasabi..looks awesome..great great effort and results look awesome in your pics.
You did ‘Ugly’ proud, Joanne! Who cares about socks when you can cook like a pro?
The pasta looks absolutely tantalizing! I sooo wanna try making my own pasta, I’ll try looking for semolina in nicer supermarkets 😀
Who can think about matching socks when one is creating such a masterpiece! Einstein didn’t match his socks. Madam Curie didn’t match her socks. Why should you??
WOW! The fresh wasabi is a super cool ingredient! And oh my goodness, look at your homemade pasta!! With sweet potato!!! You are a genius beyond all geniuses!!!
Homemade pasta is like magic. I invested in a pasta machine a few years ago and even though I only pull it out a few times a year, every time I do, I bless the day I bought it. It’s just amazing how such simple basic ingredients turn into such a wonderful food. Great post, love the socks.
Such a cute post…I needed a good chuckle tonight!
P.S. I never wear matching socks either!
Are you kidding me? You just combined ginger and pasta? I’m going to DEMAND that you move back to Boston now and become my personal chef. Or at least send some of this to me. Please? Drop out of med school and start a pasta-making company! And then ship me several batches of this. Thank you in advance 🙂
Sues
Wow, how gorgeous, Joanne! All the different flavors infused in this dish is making my mouth water! The ginger pasta sounds fantastic and looks really lovely!
xx,
Tammy
Very creative and gorgeous dish–I love the colors and if it tastes only half as good as it looks…
😉 Great job with your mystery ingredient.
This is so fantastic! The pasta alone would make me swoon…and shamefully, I never thought about where wasabi actually “came from”. So cool! Such a sexy plate.
I think wasabi is kinda beautiful, in an ugly duck sorta way.
If you cook this for me for dinner, I’ll bring dessert (cupcakes!)
Love your unmatched socks and that you went there with this pasta. GInger infused??? OMG. Wish I was still a runner so I could live on this stuff! xo
and the sauce……..wow!
Wow this looks great. I have been wanting to cook with fresh ginger and this looks like an awesome recipe to start with! Thanks.
I love the photo with the socks!! When I was growing up, my dad did the laundry and would just pair socks up by layering one on top of the other. Yeah, they never stayed together without that roll at the top. So I often had mismatched socks, too 🙂 No shame! It’s a statement.
And I learned 2 things from this post. 1) wasabi is ugly, but now I know where it really comes from (i.e. not a tube), and 2) I want to try ginger pasta…but I’ll start with the more doable goal of making my own pasta.
I have never seen a “real” wasabi before and I’m quite shocked. It’s so ugly!
Not wearing matching socks is so libertary, I love it!
?
Camila F.
It looks delicious, Joanne and the tale as to how it came about is priceless. Have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Those are ugly looking produce but with your wizardy it morphed into something oh-so-good-i-want-it- right-now pasta!
are those my feet? haha i wear mismatched socks all the time too!
This looks simply divine!
Love the mis-matched socks! Would never have noticed had you not volunteered!!
Dish looks amazing! Mmmmm!
I have mismatched socks on right now 😀
The sauce alone sounds fabulous, but the addition of homemade ginger pasta is even better! Nice!
Oh good God, wasabi is so ugly. Who knew? an awesome combination of flavors you’re thrown together in that pasta dish, though.
Also, half the time I can’t even find any socks at all, so you’re ahead of me there.
I’m so happy to see another pasta dish with wasabi! Looks delicious 🙂
Joanne, I feel I must start with this: “WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR LIFE studying to BECOME A DOCTOR?!!!” I bet that has never been said to anyone…ever. After all, being a doctor has to be the most selfless, human helping job out there, but sweetie (I call anyone I really like sweetie if you are younger than 40…I’m 40.) you are extremely gifted in the culinary arts. Aren’t you meant to be a famous chef somewhere? Isn’t your understanding of science, and I am assuming chemistry, a perfect marriage with our new science based cooking trend that pushes all envelopes? This original dish you created is truly an art form and honestly, I hope someone in my family will help me eat it because when I make it I may eat the whole huge pile of this luscious looking pasta and sauce if I am left alone. BTW—Please, please, please don’t give your parents my email address. I have a feeling they are very, very happy you are in med school. Sorry to blather on.
Sweet Potato wasabi? really girl? Is there anything you can’t put together that doesn;t sound AMAZING! I am with Sweet and Crumby- STOP STUDYING AND JUST COOK! LOL!
That is a real wasabi! I love the ginger pasta you made. Creative.
As creative as “matching” (or not matching ) socks…;p
So that’s wasabi….
BTW, any idiot can match socks! It takes a certain creativity to come up with proper mismatched socks
Yum! How genius of you!
And just to let you know, you’re not the only one who wears mismatched socks. Hell, I even go to the extent of not have matching length, not just color. When you’re in a hurry, socks don’t matter. =)
Love the colour, looks so delicious…lovely clicks as well:)
would you believe i have never made pasta?
you got a lot of wasabi there. how long will it last? i mean i hope you’re making more with it. i heard that stuff was not cheap–am i right?
anywho, this all just looks so fabulous and a lot of work. mad respect for the work girl. ms. marathon runner.
This is a terrific creation! I love the idea of infusing the homemade pasta with ginger flavors and the sauce with sweet potato and wasabi must be so fantastic!
Sounds like some seriously spicy food there. And, as for that wasabi, I am very jealous. If it had arrived in my mail, at least one rhizome would have been planted in my garden directly.
hahaha I don’t wear matching socks either! One for the good guys.
hehe, I thought were going to see the tips of your toes in a photo taken with your plate on the floor – something I’ve done myself!
These photos are stunning, I love the contrast with the pink and purple backgrounds.
Amazing looking stuff here. Seriously. I might even trade you a bowl of my squash sauce for that delicious sweet potato wonderful.
i’m a mental mess most of the time, but i do tend to wear matching socks. you make me laugh, joanne. and you make me drool. 🙂
Who knew that’s what wasabi looked like? Certainly not me. What a creative dish Joanne! And that sushi sounds great too…
What a dish! Ginger anything is good for me, but then the wasabi too…wow!
OK, so your socks don’t match but they look clean and they are cute 😉
Joanne, if the doctor thing doesn’t work out, you can always become a Food Network star and make gazillions of bucks because you are awesome!
Ginger, sweet potato, and wasabi, what a great combination! Yum!
You are a magic maker! I would of took one look at those and run screaming from the kitchen. But you turned it into something insanely delicious and inspiring and crave-worthy!
fresh wasabi! I had no idea such a beast existed. but I feel it is right that it lives with the girl with odd socks. and even more right to serve it with pasta and sweet potato and peas – maybe one day I will get the chance to try this
This may be one of the best recipes I have ever seen! Those noodles look to die for….please become a vegetarian so I can make every single one of your recipes 🙂
What a fabulously creative and delicious looking dish…love the shot of those socks.
the sauce on this looks amazing — I would eat it plain!
p.s. whoever wears matching socks must also eat a “serving size” of girl scout cookies. I want nothing to do with them.
You have definitely outdone yourself with the dish. Thanks so much for sharing with Presto Pasta Night. It sounds awesome, looks great and now I know what real wasabi root looks like. Wonder if I can find any here in Halifax.
As for the socks, my grandson spends time CHOOSING mismatched “pairs” of socks to wear. I think it’s quite cool.
Brilliant colors, Joanne. (Talking about the dish, not the socks, ha ha)
I think you are okay with socks. If it were shoes, I’d be more concerned. Amazing dish you’ve created! Ginger infused pasta? Excellent. I love that sauce. I’d have to go sans peas for my husband, but what a great combo!
all I can say is YUM,, going to make this one for sure, Tink
Wow. That is truly an amazing dish. And an “Eats Well With Others” original to boot. I excuse the sock issue entirely. Those pictures are off-the-charts!
Wow, what an amazing dish! I love that you put ginger in the pasta – I am immediately going to copy you. It is the sincerest form of flattery, ya know. 😉
Who knew wasabi was so funny looking? ?
What a lovely colourful pucker perfect dish! The flava would be HOT and yummy. I did know that wasabi was a root – but I have only seen it peeled. Very cool to see it in the flesh with skin on.
Love your creativity.
🙂
valerie
hehehe, I loved seeing your little footsies peeking out in that one photo … your sock-related quirk only makes u more endearing, and not freakish in the least 😉 You have magical powers, turning out such a nummy pasta dish with that hideous root as an inspiration!
OMG I have died and gone to pasta heaven. What a great combi of all my favourite ingredients!!! stunning photos, i’ve bookmarked this and looking forward to try it out!!!
So creative Joanne – this looks amazing!! Good luck in the contest 🙂
Looks amazing. I think I have to try immediately!
I had no idea wasabi looked like that and am very impressed and amazed with the recipe you came up with for it!! Beautiful and sounds delicious, especially the ginger noodles.
I loved this recipe…so yummm