Chicken Broccoli Soba Noodles

Last night, I was feeling a bit stressed, a bit tired, and thought maybe I felt a cold coming on.  The weather has been so up and down lately....lots of rain, a few nice sunny days, and frosty mornings.  I just wanted to get something on the table, because I was expecting all 3 kids home at different points in the evening.  I was too tired to even think much about it, let alone look up a recipe.  My son had defrosted 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs for me.  What to make?

I decided the quickest way to cook the chicken was to cube it.  But I didn't really have all the ingredients my kids like for stir fry, like peppers and mushrooms.  However, there were some monster cloves of garlic on the counter, and two halves of a green and red jalapeno from the garden.  There was a head of broccoli in the veggie crisper.  And half a pack of soba noodles needing to be used up.  Okay then.

My Chicken Broccoli Soba Noodles

6 chicken thighs, skinned & deboned
1 head broccoli, stalks diced, florets separated
2 large cloves garlic
1 jalapeno or red chile
Soy sauce
Hoisin sauce
Salt & pepper
Soba noodles

First off, I minced the garlic, and put it in a bit of olive oil to fry in a large pan.  I added the broccoli to the garlic and sauteed for a few minutes, with a bit of salt & pepper to season.  Then I added a small amount of water, and covered the pan to let the broccoli steam a bit.  Once this was accomplished, I removed everything to a bowl. 

I put some water in a pot to boil for the noodles.  I find that soba noodles cook very quickly.  So don't put them in until you are almost ready for them!

Then I took the same broccoli pan (less washing up!) and added a bit more olive oil.  This time, I put the minced chiles in with the cubed chicken, and sauteed until the chicken was cooked.  I added some soy sauce and hoisin sauce (to taste) and the broccoli/garlic mixture.  This was a bit liquidy but I figured it would act as a sauce.  Finally, I stirred in the noodles and dished it up onto plates.

I thought it was okay.  I figured the kids wouldn't particularly like it, but they'd probably eat it.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  They raved about it.  They said it was the best thing ever.  They wanted the recipe!  Which, of course, didn't exist.  That's why I'm writing it down, so I can come back to it the next time they ask "can you make that chicken & broccoli noodle dish again?"  ;)