I’ve got some shiitake and brown beech mushrooms, asparagus, red bell pepper, leeks and/or shallots and some black bean noodles that are spaghetti shaped. I’ve never done anything Asian-Italian fusion and not sure how to pull it off. Would you just turn this into a complete Chinese dish or any other ideas?
I would find some beef.
Poppy, that’s a tough job to pull off and I don’t know if you could use all of those ingredients. My first thought was some kind of cacciatore – but if you add a tomato sauce, or a cream sauce, you completely lose the Asian aspect, whatever you make will just taste Italian.
There are side dishes – down in Apulia they sauté mushrooms and greens (like broccoli rabe) in a way that is not all that different from some Chinese dishes I have had. You could probably sauté some baby bok choy with the mushrooms and I suggest seasoning with sweet Thai chili garlic sauce. I know that’s intended mainly for chicken dishes but I’ve tried it with Chinese greens and it works really well.
You might be able to work in the asparagus (in pieces) and the red bell pepper – but if you get too many ingredients going then the perception tilts towards Chinese stir fry. And you want a confusing balance between the Italian and the Chinese if the result is to work.
Those black noodles – it might be easier to shade this over toward Singapore/Malaysian. I’ve seen those black noodles used with curry sauce. Of course the appearance of the curry sauce might be a little Italian.
Interesting concept, I hope you tell us what you end up with!
Asian all the way. Stir fry on high heat with garlic added. Finish with sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin or white wine, S&P. Add the cooked noodles at the end.
ZhaJiang mian. Easy to modify sauce to use veg instead of seafood or ground meat.
Chinese-European fusion …Dunno if that term makes sense =D
Maybe not in food, but half the kids in the Bay Area qualify 
Interesting. Not very “Italian” except the noodles but who cares.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I decided to take Gregg’s advice and just do a Chinese stir fry. I added in a bit of black bean sauce for heat. It was tasty!
In my research though, I did find this recipe for a Chinese risotto from Yujean Kang’s in Pasadena. Has anyone had this dish?
