BLT Stir Fry with Oriental Noodles

We had our little fun—our outing to Girouard Vines—now it is back to cleaning and organizing and our 2012 Clean Out.  (Actually, I have been doing neither, but with every little tidbit that gets used out of the freezer and pantry, I feel like I am gaining ground a bit.)

So for dinner last night, I threw together a little light meal albeit with bacon.   (You will not be able to guess how many full packages let alone partial ziplocked baggies of bacon I have found in the freezer.   One can’t have too much bacon, I guess.)

My first intent was to use kale from the hoop house, but when I got to the garden, I had some great looking Swiss chard and spinach to pick as well.   I used a combo of all three but I think any one of them would work fine for this recipe.

Kale, chard, and spinach.

I also added fresh tomatoes.   I have seriously picked more tomatoes from the green house this winter than I did all last summer from the garden.

Tomatoes from the greenhouse.

The noodles came from a long ago visit to an Asian market in KC.

Long forgotten noodles.

Throughout this Clean Out, I will reference “long agos” but I will not reference specific dates.   It would be too embarrassing for me to share how long some of this stuff has been in the freezer and the pantry.   Don’t worry—I will throw away questionable items—meaning if I can’t identify it, it is going into the trash.  🙂

BLT Stir Fry with Oriental Noodles

2 packages Oriental noodles
6 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
2 T. bacon fat
1/2  T. chile pepper flakes
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T.  minced garlic
4 c. greens (kale, Swiss chard, spinach)
1/2 T. red wine vinegar
1 c. chopped tomatoes

Start a large kettle of water to boiling for the noodles.

Meanwhile, heat up the wok.   Fry bacon pieces until crisp and then remove to drain.  Add onion to bacon fat and cook until translucent.   Add chile flakes and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.   Add greens and vinegar  and continue to stir-fry until greens are cooked.

Prepare noodles per package instructions.   (They will probably only take a minute or two to cook.)

Add the cooked and drained noodles and tomatoes to the wok. Stir until combined.

I really liked this dish.   I think that you could substitute balsamic in for the red wine vinegar and it would taste great as well.   I will also add another cup of greens the next time I make this.

For  a vegetarian dish, omit the bacon and use olive oil or sesame oil to stir-fry.

BLT Stir Fry