Lemon Pepper, Udon, and Bacon Meal Madness!

An excellent meal

I spun the Food Wonk Meal Madness iPhone App, and I decided to create a dish with the omnivore spin: lemon pepper, udon noodles, and bacon.
My daughter's favorite noodle is udon. Not surprisingly, I was out of udon noodles, and I was seriously thinking of making my own. After much thought, I decided to make a trip to the Asian market. As long as I was going to the Asian market, a side trip to the farmer's market made sense. A couple of hours and many purchases later, I had an enormous amount of fresh produce and seafood.  It was time to create.

The difficult ingredient for me was the lemon pepper. I had trouble imaging how it was going to work with the udon and the bacon. I decided to take a risk and try something completely different (at least for me). It was Saturday and I had plenty of time. If the dish was awful I could come up with something else on Sunday.

I decided on sauteed shrimp sprinkled with lemon pepper in a coconut milk based broth over udon. I topped the dish with crumbled bacon. I ran my idea past several people and received several "that's interesting" responses. Katie made sure I had enough udon noodles for a different dish for her "just in case."

Was it good? I loved it. I was in foodie heaven. The different tastes worked together perfectly. The bacon, which I really worried about clashing with the rest of the dish, added that extra bit of yum. The lemon pepper worked great with the shrimp, and the coconut milk sauce was out of this world good. The only thing I would change is to add a bit of crushed red pepper to the sauce. I added it to the final version of the recipe. I also made roasted vegetables sprinkled with lemon pepper as a side. It was a bit chaotic, and I used a lot of pots. But I had fun making this dish. 

Roasted veggies; I love these

Bacon

4 Pieces of Bacon

Fry bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.

Coconut Milk Broth

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
3 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
1 Hot Pepper, Finely Chopped (I used a hot lemon pepper)
13.5 oz. (400 ml) of Coconut Milk
1/3 Cup (7 g) of Cilantro, Finely Chopped
1 1/2 Tsp of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1/4 Tsp of Crushed Red Pepper (Optional)

In  a large saucepan heat oil and sauté garlic, onions, and hot pepper until tender.

I love the  smell of sautéing garlic, onions, and peppers

Add the remaining ingredients and warm on low heat.

Warming over low heat

Udon Noodles

19.89 oz. (564 g) of Udon Noodles

Cook the udon noodles according to package directions.

Cooking udon

Lemon Pepper Shrimp

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1 1/2 lbs (.7 kg) of Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined

A fresh shrimp

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle shrimp with lemon pepper. Sauté shrimp until pink about three minutes.

Beautiful sautéed shrimp

The Assembly

Place udon noodles on a plate and top with shrimp. Pour coconut milk broth over the shrimp and noodles. Finally top with bacon. I also placed the roasted vegetables around the udon noodles. I thought they went great with the dish.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, I loved this. I made the roasted vegetables again the next day. I had some leftover coconut milk broth and poured it over salmon for dinner the following night.