Basil-Steamed Shrimp over Soba Noodles Recipe

Directions:

1. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and boil for 2 minutes, or until just al dente. Drain the noodles and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water to shock and stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
2. Trim off 1 inch of the green tops of the scallions and discard. Thinly slice the green tops about halfway to the white base and set aside. Cut off the white base and split it in half lengthwise. Set aside.
3. Using a vegetable peeler, remove only the orange part, or zest, from the skin of the orange, being careful to leave the white pith beneath it behind. Reserve the orange for another use.
4. Sprinkle the orange zest and ginger slices with salt and rub them between your fingers to work the salt into them.
5. Lay the halved scallion bases and half of the ginger slices and orange zest on the perforated bottom of a bamboo steamer basket to make a flavor mat large enough to accommodate all of the shrimp in a single layer.
6. Lay half of the basil bunch over the flavor mat, being sure to leave some of the other components of the mat exposed. Lay the shrimp on top of the mat and top with the remaining ginger, orange zest and basil bunch.
7. Evenly spread the red pepper strips around the shrimp. Top the pepper strips with the mushrooms.
8. Pour the water into the steamer pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the dashi powder and simmer until fully dissolved. Put the steamer basket over the simmering base, cover and steam for about 6 minutes, or until the shrimp turn pink and are just cooked through. Remove the steamer and set aside while covered to keep warm.
9. Add the noodles to the simmering broth just long enough to heat them through. Divide the noodles and broth among 4 warmed bowls. Carefully transfer the red pepper strips and mushroom slices to the bowls. In the center of each bowl, arrange 4 shrimp, overlapping them slightly, over the noodles. Discard the flavor mat.
10. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice a julienne of 10 basil leaves. Sprinkle the julienned leaves and the reserved green scallion slices over the broth in each bowl. Nestle a sprig of fresh basil in the center of each bowl and serve.