A lovely thing about Nicoletta and I is that we both absolutely love Asian food. I don't think either of us has ever met a bottle of fish sauce we didn't like. And I'm pretty sure we both harbor the same fantasy of being trapped inside an Uwajimaya during a snowstorm where we would be given endless free food by the management. The smell of fish is probably my favorite smell in the world. And it is truly amazing how bad something can smell (fish sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste, what have you) and then transform into the most incredible pleasure in your mouth. Nicoletta and I rummaged in my cupboard, looking for some eats.
I lurrrrve these ingredients because you only use a tad at a time, and they last a super long time. Excellent for sauces.
Pasta seemed like a good bet, so we boiled some water.
My apartment constantly has garlic in it. I'm obsessed with garlic. I read about this awesome thing in France that they do from Ruth Reichl's book Comfort Me With Apples, which I so highly recommend:
"Wrapped in this haze of garlic we ate dinner: garlic soup and garlic tart and brains cooked in brown butter with garlic and there was boursin, the garlic-laced cheese, for dessert. We had been eating for six hours - not counting the French toast we had consumed on the train - and somehow I was not full.
"Yes," said Robert sagely, 'this too is the garlic effect. You do not even feel uncomfortable after the meal, but full of energy." He motioned to Les. "Monsieur Les, I think now is the time to begin the filming."
"You're filming now?" I asked. It seemed very late.
"It is never," said Robert, "too late for the garlic massage."
"Garlic massage?" I asked. What garlic massage?"
"The one that we do in the south of France," said Robert. "There is nothing like it."
I looked around to see who the intended recipient of this massage would be "There is nothing better for the skin than aioli," said Robert ingratiatingly. "The Arlesiennes massage it into their skin to repel insects and promote suntan. And what a heavenly smell they have - oh la la!" He kissed his fingers in my direction. I was just thinking that it might be fun to give my body over to olive oil, eggs, and garlic when he looked at Les and added, "Your film is too serious, Monsieur Les. Think how nice it will be for the film."
Monsieur Les looked wistful, and I came to my senses and emerged from the haze. Even a Berkely girl has her limits. And being naked on film was mine. "Not me," I said firmly. "I am a reporter." I picked up my notebook and held it like a shield. "I am here as an objective observer. "My job is to keep notes about all of this. Why not massage Bruce?"
Robert eyed the large man at my side. He shuddered visibly. "Monsieur Bruce?" he squeaked. "Non, non, c'est impossible!" Before I could say another word, he turned and surveyed the room. As he made his way toward a buxom blonde with very long hair, he was practically running.
We watched him lean persuasively toward her. He gestured to the camera, to me sitting there with my notebook. She smiled, considered, licked her lips. And then she gave a small nod, walked to the bar, and removed her clothes. She stretched herself languidly across the wood. Robert flexed his fingers. The cameras rolled. Working around the naked woman, Robert began to make the aioli. "You begin with four cloves of peeled garlic," he said, smiling into the lights. "First you pound them in the mortar for half an hour." He pounded assiduously and added, "It is not how much garlic you use that is important; it is how well you pound it. When you can turn the mortar upside down without anything falling out, then it is enough." He turned the mortar over to demonstrate.
"Then you add the yolk of one egg and a bit of salt. And then a soupspoon of good mustard. And now, slowly, slowly, you pour in a pint of olive oil. When it is a thick mayonnaise you add the juice of one lemon. Voila!" Robert dipped some bread into his creation and ate. An ecstatic expression crossed his face; standing there with the lights shining on his silver hair, he looked almost saintly.
He turned to the woman draped across the bar and began to massage aioli into her shoulders. As he slowly worked his way down her body she began to sigh. "Do they really do this in southern France?" she moaned as he started on her inner thighs. Robert, intent on the work of his fingers, assured her that they did. She fell silent, intent on finding her own ecstacy.
~~~
Okay, that was kind of long. But I love that passage. Great book. Anyways, we chopped up some garlic:
While we were readying the sauce we started the angel hair pasta.
We sweated the garlic in the wok, which heats up insanely quickly because it's so thin, as woks tend to be, and you really have to watch that your shiz doesn't burn.
I was actually not sure about the fish sauce. I definitely wanted oyster sauce, but I wasn't feeling the fish sauce. Nicoletta felt otherwise.
"Actually Annie, shut your face and put in extra fish sauce." :)
Also chopped up and swept some jalapeño into the wok.
Yummers.
The pasta was coming along nicely.
One thing I am really not great with is knowing exACTly when the pasta is done, so Nicoletta was lovely enough to handle that part.
Twas done! I really like this picture.
So then we added the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, kind of guesstimating and eyeballing, adding some salt and pepper and sesame oil as well. Then a bit of brown sugar.
Added the pasta to the sauce.
Mixed it in really well, still heating, then added some sesame seeds...
Had some excitement when I found cashews in my cupboard, chopped up those suckers.
Had some awesome culinary school flipping going on:
And it was done, AND WE WERE GOING TO EAT!!
It definitely called for wine to be poured. Nicoletta chose white.
A toast to awesomeness.
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That pasta was freaking delicious. We both added a ton of Mai Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce.
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It...was...awesome.
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I first started making this general recipe when I Stumbled upon it. It was called "Budget Garlic Noodles." Here's the original recipe, as follows.
~~~
Budget Garlic Noodles
8 ounces angel hair pasta
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 a bunch green onions, chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
STEP 1: In a large pot, bring water to a boil to cook the noodles according to the directions on the box (enough water to cover noodles, boil for approximately 5 minutes).
STEP 2: While the pasta cooks, mince the garlic and chop the green onions. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, add the garlic and onions and saute until they are soft but not browned.
STEP 3: While the pasta, garlic and onions are cooking, mix the oyster sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil together in a bowl.
STEP 4: Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it in a colander. Remove the skillet with the sauteed garlic and green onions from the heat. Add the drained pasta and oyster sauce mixture to the skillet and stir well to coat the pasta. If your pasta is stiff or sticky making it hard to stir, mix in a small amount (1/4 cup or less) of hot water to loosen them up.
NOTE: I garnished my noodles with some left over green onions and a couple sesame seeds although neither is necessary. Everyone likes a different ratio of sweet to salty so taste your noodles after mixing them in the sauce to see if you prefer more soy sauce or brown sugar.
~~~
Of course, I didn't have green onions on hand, I wish I had!! They would have been great. And of course, the fish sauce was awesome as well. We also stirred the noodles in the wok for a while, trying to crisp them a little bit, which worked really well. These noodles are completely addictive. Of course, I made them at home the other night for myself, and had a date over, and he didn't like them, because they tasted too Asian! Some people are so weird. So if you DO like food with a bit of Asian flavor, you are sure to love these. I can't wait for our next food fun! Also, Nicoletta and I watched Repo: The Genetic Opera, while we were eating, and it was so awesome. I have all the songs memorized. It is such a ridiculous and great movie. NOT to be confused with "Repo Men" with Jude Law. And Repo: The Genetic Opera has that girl Carmen from Spy Kids! Which you might be excited about if you have a sister 7 years younger than you that you definitely enjoyed "having" to watch all her favorite kid movies with while "baby-sitting" that I was "too old" to watch. Those movies were great. anyways, I know this isn't a movie blog. But just FYI. Next time: Bagels at Pike Place!
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2 comments:
I was at Uwaji's the other day and the manager gave me free rosemary bread. It was pretty amazing.
That's so awesome! Free bread tastes the best. My apartment is so far from a Uwaji's. I must rectify that soon.
-Annabelle
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