KCET FOOD

Carb counting be damned — Los Angeles is a noodle town. In strip mall shops and sit-down restaurants, hungry Angelenos inhale aromatic bowls of pho, twirl sweet-sour tangles of pad Thai, hunch over steaming portions of ramen, and scoop up glassy strands of japchae.

And then there are Chinese noodles, perhaps the granddaddy of them all. Chinese noodles made from millet date back at least 4,000 years; these days they typically contain wheat, rice flour or other starches. The most familiar versions are made from a simple dough of water, wheat and sometimes a trace of alkaline minerals (which make the dough chewy and resilient in hot liquid) and take on a variety of shapes and sizes: round, flat, broad, thin and everything in between. They can be found filling bowls of soup, tossed in stir-fries or topped with sauce.

These noodles are especially tasty when handmade, as the inevitable variations and imperfections soak up surrounding flavors and offer subtly different textures in each bite. Fortunately, the San Gabriel Valley is a noodle lover’s playground, with plenty of restaurants serving up noodles cut or pulled by hand.Lamb soup with knife-cut noodles at JTYH 

Zha jiang mian at Malan Noodles

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Rick’s New England Clam Chowder

SERVES 6
This slightly smoky version is based on the traditional, but would make a New England purist very upset.

Scrub the clams thoroughly under cold running water and place in a large pot with 1 cup of boiling water. Cover the pot and steam the clams for about 5 minutes, or just until they begin to open. Strain the liquid into a separate bowl and reserve.

Remove the cooked meat from the clams and cut into medium chunks. Cover the cut clams with the pint of clam juice, and refrigerate.

Using the same pot that was used for the clams, over medium heat add the butter and bacon. Cook for 1 minute to melt the bacon fat. Add the onions, celery, carrots and sachet. Cover the pot and sweat the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the leeks and sweat for 1 more minute. Season with salt and pepper.

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