Fakisukiyakisoba

Yakisoba is one of the faves in our household, so last week Brandon wanted to whip some up for us and realized the fresh noodles we had purchased a while back had already gone bad. We usually buy the noodles at the grocery store over by the tofu and other weird meatless products. When we stopped by the store to pick up some more, he also grabbed some extra firm tofu and told me he would be cooking it up with the chicken. I was hesitant, but I don't really have a say, so I reluctantly agreed I would try it. Then we came upon this Sukiyaki sauce in the Asian foods section, and he was intrigued. He made the executive decision to put back the noodles and try that sauce with regular pasta. The result was interesting and quite delicious.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 package spaghetti
• 1/2 bottle Sukiyaki sauce
• 1.5 frozen chicken breasts
• 1 package shelled edamame
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 zucchini
• olive oil
• 1 head roasted garlic
• red pepper flake

He cubed the chicken and then pressed the excess moisture out of the tofu and cubed it, as well. All of that was cooked in a skillet with olive oil and one head of roasted garlic and red pepper flake. The red bell was then tossed in with the mix while the asparagus was microwaved for 1 minute and 45 seconds. As an interesting time saver, he boiled the edamame in the pasta water, then cooked the pasta in the same pot. As the zucchini had been previously grilled, he just added it at the end. All of that magical deliciousness was then tossed with the Sukiyaki sauce.

The final product isn't too exciting looking but was very tasty and satisfying! The flavor of the sauce was much more subtle than our usual, and the combination of the vegetables was great. I am not a fan of tofu as a rule because of the consistency, and I can't quite understand the point of including it because it doesn't taste like much, but it was fine. It added more protein and I think that's what helped make it so filling. B was also not happy with the consistency and would have liked it to turn out firmer. He also says he would much rather use the packaged fresh noodles and the sauce that comes with them, but this was a nice change of pace.