Yakisoba

Columbus Day Weekend, 2008.  The place: Candlewood Lake, Connecticut.  The cast of characters: ten thesis-crazed Amherst students looking for a little R&R.  We spent four days at a friend's house on the lake, surrounded by sparkling water and fiery New England autumn hills, doing our best to forget about the work awaiting us back at school.  We slept until noon and spent the afternoons drinking beer and lounging on the dock.

And, taking advantage of the huge and elegantly equipped kitchen, we cooked.  We cooked like the hungry young fiends we were, overwhelmed with delight at our temporary freedom from dining-hall blandness.  We bought everything we could get our hands on at the local Costco, and put together elaborate communal dinners full of fresh vegetables and bright flavors.  And by far the most successful meal we had that weekend was our friend Shaylon's yakisoba.

Fillet of Sole stuffed with Shrimp and Mushrooms

Fillet of Sole stuffed with Shrimp and Mushrooms

Hello Amherst foodies!

If you don't know or remember me, my name is Zach and I graduated from Amherst in 2009. My cooking style is pretty much self-taught, drawing occasional insights and techniques from the internet, my mother, my girlfriend, and other sources. I tend to gravitate towards lean meats, fish, and pastas, because these seem to be the types of dishes that I cook best. Since my year teaching abroad in Turkey I've also added some Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, and Greek-ish recipes to my repertoire, so you can also look forward to seeing a few of those in my corner of the blog.

I've already posted this particular dish on planworld and my personal blog, but I'm sharing it again here for good reason: it's really, really delicious. You can substitute nearly any type of white fish for the sole, and the sauce works perfectly well in other dishes without the shrimp/mushroom stuffing. The cheese topping might run counter to some deeply ingrained culinary sensibilities (Italians, I'm looking at you), but I recommend that you give it a try even if you're skeptical.

This one's one of my favorites and I hope you like it too! Recipe after the jump: