Soba n Salad Dinner Party

Recipes — By sowj on August 21, 2011 5:47 pm

Yesterday jumped on the A train and rode all the way to 181st Street in Washington Heights to see my good friends Han and Jane.

(The view from their living room)

I brought along some of my frozen spinach pesto that I had made the previous week. Han had bought fresh scallions and gorgeous oyster mushrooms. As I sautéed the scallions and Han grilled the mushrooms on a cast iron griddle, we brainstormed our meal. Han showed off a few recent purchases: spicy sesame oil, spicy sea salt, and marinated artichokes. I wanted to make use of all the deliciousness, and decided on two soba noodle dishes. Jane, in the meantime, chopped away on some lacinato kale and celery for a fantastic fresh citrus kale salad.

The first soba noodle dish I made with my Spinach Pesto, and added Han’s marinated artichokes.

And here’s the second soba noodle dish:

INGREDIENTS

1 packet of Soba Noodles
1 bunch of Scallions
20 Oyster Mushrooms
Spicy Sesame Oil to taste
Olive Oil to taste
Spicy Marinated Sea Salt

PREPARATION

In a rolling boil, cook the soba noodles for 5 minutes or to the consistency of your liking. Strain and wash the noodles with cold water until they have cooled. Set aside. Chop and saute the scallions with a pinch of salt and a tbsp of olive oil. On a cast iron griddle, grill the mushrooms, browning them evenly on both sides. Add the mushrooms and scallions to the soba noodles. Toss with extra olive oil and a tsp of spicy sesame oil. You can add more sesame oil, but I prefer a subtle sesame essence. We topped off the noodles with the spicy sea salt to give it a little extra kick.

This dish served as a nice contrast to the rich pesto and artichoke soba noodles. (Also, both these dishes can be made gluten free if you use 100% Buckwheat Noodles.)

The salad Jane made was so simple and I was blown away with the flavor, texture and freshness.

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch of Lacinato Kale
1 stalk of Celery
Lemon Juice to taste
Grapefruit Juice to taste
2 handfuls of hand-chopped Almonds
Salt to taste

PREPARATION

Wash and devein the kale. Chop into thin strips. One simple way to do this is lay all the strips of kale on top of one another and roll them up. Then chop the rolled kale to make your strips. Wash and chop the celery thinly as well. Add the lemon juice and grapefruit juice, the more the merrier! Toss together and top off with the almonds. Enjoy!