San Francisco Eating: The Plant

At the recommendation of good friend whose taste buds I trust, we decided to check out The Plant - known for its use of local and organic produce/ingredients - at Embarcadero in San Francisco for lunch one day. We arrived at a slightly odd hour between lunch and dinnertime, and were bummed to discover that the actual restaurant was closed - but luckily the related cafe right next door was open. This sample cafe menu is more robust than what we saw, but it didn't matter. It was a good place to catch up over good food with good friends!

We shared the BBQ tempeh panini (tempeh with chipotle barbeque sauce, roasted red onion and vegan aioli), which was served with a fresh side salad and deliciously vinegary pickled cucumber slices that you can tell are made in-house:

And the Plant burger, which is a veggie burger made from lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews and bulgar. Served on foccacia with roasted onion, lettuce, tomato and vegan aioli and plated along side a salad, herb-roasted fingerling potatoes and more pickled cucumber slices, it was a unique and very tasty veggie burger:

And, The Plant serves Blue Bottle coffee! Soy cappuccino with a foamy flower flourish = yum:

Cold & Spicy Sesame "Salad"

Particularly when it comes to cooking (vs. baking), I like to look at recipes as a framework or starting point from which you can make adjustments or customizations to suit your taste preferences, dietary needs, ingredients you have at hand, etc. It can be tricky depending on what it is you're making, but this spicy sesame "salad" is a pretty fool-proof recipe that is easy to tweak. I've made it a couple of times now - a little differently each time - but have enjoyed the finished product of each attempt equally.It's teeters between light and hearty, and is quite filling and satisfying - thanks to the hefty dose of fiber and protein from the whole grains and vegetables. The hot sesame oil and Thai chili add a decent kick to this, so if you don't like spicy food, eliminate the pepper and use regular sesame oil instead of hot.What You NeedVegetables/Noodles

• About 5 cups shredded/chopped vegetables(This time, I went for a mix of julienne yellow and red peppers, finely sliced green onion, chopped broccoli, edamame beans, chopped red cabbage and shredded carrots. Other possibilities include zucchini, squash, tomatoes, tofu, bok choy, bean sprouts, etc.)

• 8 oz whole wheat linguine, cooked

• 2-3 tbsp sesame seeds

Dressing

• 5 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp water

• 3 tbsp natural peanut butter

• 2 tbsp hot sesame oil

• 1 tbsp vinegar

• 1 tbsp ground ginger

• 1/2 tbsp honey*NOTE: to truly make this recipe vegan, swap out the honey for agave

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 minced small red Thai chili pepper, seeds and ribs removed (a green chili or habanero also does the trick)

• 1/3 cup peanuts

What You Do

1. Cook noodles according to instructions on package.*NOTE: Since this is a cold dish, when I drain the linguini in a colander I run cold water over the noodles as well to stop the cooking process and reduce the heat.

2. Prepare vegetables and combine in a large bowl.

3. Puree all of the dressing ingredients - minus the peanuts - in a food processor until smooth.

4. Add peanuts to food processor and blend until finely chopped.

5. Combine vegetables, noodles, dressing and sesame seeds in a large bowl, and toss to distribute the dressing evenly.

6. Refrigerate to chill, and then devour!

spicynoodleveggie2

Recipe adapted from PinchofYum.