Cold Sesame Noodles and Ted Leo

The first time I ever had Cold Sesame Noodles I was 13 years old. My mom, my sister and I were Kicking it at Epcot Center in Disney World and we stopped by the China Pavilion during our walk around the world, I loved them immediately. Unlike the dish of same name available at most take out Chinese joints, they were light and full of flavor and cold, which Orlando definitely wasn't at the time.

Alright enough reminiscing, here's a recipe.

For the noodles:

1 pound of Linguini

2/3 cup of Toasted Sesame Oil

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1-2" piece of Ginger minced

2-3 cloves Garlic minced

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tsp chili paste (or like a gallon of it if you're into it)

1/2 cup of Sesame Seeds

For the Tofu: (This is basically the same Sesame Tofu from Whole Foods)

1 pound Tofu

2-3 Scallions chopped to small pieces

1 clove Garlic minced

1/2" of Ginger minced

2 Tbsp of Honey or Agave (depending on your honey stance)

3 Tbsp of Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp of Soy Sauce

a shake or two of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup flour

garnishes;

shredded carrot

cucumber strips

jalapeno

bean sprouts

cilantro

etc.

Make the noodles first and toss them in the fridge to cool. Cook the pasta as you would normally and transfer it to a big bowl. In a small sauce pan saute the garlic and ginger in the sesame oil for a few minutes and remove from heat before it browns add the rest of the ingredients (except the sesame seeds) and stir, stir, stir. Pour the mixture on the pasta and mix, then add the sesame seeds. Cover and pop it in the fridge.

The tofu - after pressing for 15-20 minutes, slice the tofu into cutlets and panfry in peanut oil (or vegetable if you don't have peanut) over medium low heat turning regularly until brown on both sides. Remove the tofu from the pan and let cool. Slice into bite size strips and toss the tofu in the flour. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Put the tofu back in the frying pan until nice and brown and pour the sauce mixture into the pan, cook for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.

Start with a bowl of noodles and tofu and the rest of the assembly is entirely up to you I put everything I listed along with Chili paste and mix it up, some like it all on top. It doesn't matter it all gets eaten. I could literally eat this every day.

th Chili past Ted Leo, where to start. He's from New Jersey, he's been making awesome music for like 15 years (see: Chisel), he's Vegan. Sure he forgot the words to My Way during the one of the Rorschach reunion show's, but whatever. I love Ted Leo and you should too.

Here's a blog I found with his discography:

http://rhoim.blogspot.com/2008/07/ted-leo-discography.html

Well, sorta back.

We made some sweet food this weekend. Lemon Mustard Tempeh with Kale, Cold Sesame Noodles with Tofu, the ever present Italian summer staple Cucumber and Tomato salad, TVP Chik Nuggz, and I ate an apple the size of my fist (I have huge hands) at some point.
But I didn't have a camera and I can't post the recipes without the food porn. I'll post recipes soon, my little blueberries.

p.s. Memorial Day was yesterday, did you plant your garden yet? We did.



Lettuces, spinach, tomatoes, sweet peas, green beans, green onions, red onions, yellow squash, zucchini, Italian eggplant, red and green bell peppers, kale, broccoli, collard greens, habaneros, jalapenos, cucumbers, kirby cucumbers, basil, thyme, dill, cilantro, watermelon and cantaloupe. I can't wait for the end of July!

Lime herb gluten steak, rosemary lemon roasted potatoes and Creamed Spinach

I made this while trying to impress a young lady. My best food generally comes from these situations.

I learned to make Gluten Steak when I used to work at Veggie Works in Belmar, NJ (it's now sort of Kaya's Kitchen but it's not nearly as good... or cheap). Mark Rasmussen ran Veggie Works for a few years before selling it to one of the head chefs Omar, who renamed it to Kaya's Kitchen and made some changes to the place.

Mark is currently running what I know of to be the first Vegan Gourmet prepared meals service which is called Veggie Brothers. I haven't tried it yet but it's gotta be amazing that guy was one of the best chefs I ever met, and he's been working on it since he sold Veggie Works in 2004. Plus, it's based at the Jersey Shore so it's clearly awesome.

The only recipe from this plate I'm posting is for the Creamed Spinach because everything else is easy and self explanatory.

Vegan Creamed Spinach

for the white sauce

3 Tbsp Margarine

3 Tbsp Flour

2 Cups Soy Milk

1/3 Cup Nutritional Yeast

1/4 Cup Vegan Parmasean cheese substitute

cayenne pepper to taste

salt to taste

black pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

for the spinach

1 Medium Onion - Chopped

2 Tbsp Margarine

4 cloves garlic

2 packagaes frozen chopped spinach

In one pot make a roux (melt the butter and add the flour til it forms a paste). Add soy milk and nutritional yeast and the not parmesan cheese, mix. add spices. in a second pot sautee the onion and garlic in margarine until translucent, add spinach, mix and let cook for a bit. Add the white sauce and mix, let cook for a bit. Transfer to caserole dish and cover with bread crumbs, bake at 350 for a half hour.

Record I listened to : Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been

Although I can't be sure it's safe to assume. J Mascis is a hero of mine and he should be one of yours too.

Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GOF503MN (sorry it's not mediafire)

Fucking pancakes, duh

When you sleep untill 12:30 it's not fair to call it breakfast so pancakes are a great lunch and can do a pretty good job at soaking up all the booze in a queasy stomach.

Pancakes, like most food, are way better when there's extra stuff involved. Since it's summer and Maryland is close enough to New Jersey to still get the best blueberries and strawberries on the east coast I went with them. 

Pancakes are easy as hell to make and have been a favorite food of mine since I grew teeth. The best part is unlike their bourgeois cousins Waffles, they don't need a special pan to make.

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspons baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup soy milk (or rice or almond or whatevs)

a splash of seltzer or beer (no shit) makes them fluffier (optional)

2 tbsp veg. oil

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Drop half a cup or so on a hot griddle (toss a la few drops of water on it and if it dances it's hot enough) and put whatever you want in them (fruit, chocolate chips, candy etc.) when they start to bubble that's about the time you wanna flip them over they should be a golden brown, I assume you've seen a pancake at some point yea? So you know how to eat them.

Pancakes rule.

Record I listened to while I cooked: The Arrivals - Marvels of Industry.

The Arrivals are hands down one of the best pop punk bands I've ever heard. Every song on this record is a hit. On top of that Dave is one of the funniest dudes I've ever met and does a killer Ice T impression. He's also a huge Guided By Voices fan and is actually in a GBV cover band so good that Robert Pollard himself asked them to play Birthday party and he invites them down to Dayton, OH just to drink with him. HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT!

link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nha5mmzooyq