Friday, July 8, 2011

From the Kitchen - Crunchy Asian Noodles with Peanut Sesame Sauce


Twitter has a big influence on my diet, people tweet about their late night snack, their dinner plans and it puts those brain worms into my head and I must have it!  The other day Jen from PoleStar was snacking on some peanut noodles and it reminded me of a fabulous recipe from Ina Garten that I had buried in my notebook. 

It has a long list of ingredients, but don't be fooled, it's a pretty quick dinner, and they're all worth it.  I've changed it a little bit, less salt, more ginger, and it's good hot or cold.  Feel free to substitute any fresh veggies you have on hand to give it crunch, I think broccoli would be yummy mixed in.  You could also throw in chicken to add a little protein.  Enjoy!

Crunchy Asian Noodles with Peanut Sesame Sauce (adapted from Ina Garten)

One box spaghetti (I recommend thin spaghetti from Barilla)
1/2 - 1 pound sugar snap peas
1 red pepper thinly sliced
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 scallions (white and green parts) sliced
handful of fresh chopped parsley

Cook spaghetti according to instructions on the box.  While spaghetti is boiling, whisk vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds together.

*To grate the ginger, cut off a chunk from the ginger root, peel it using a vegetable peeler, then use a grater or microplane, scraping all that fragrant goodness into the bowl.

Cook snap peas - steam them, or cook them according to bag instructions.  Most snap peas at my grocery store come in ready to steam bags.

Combine the spaghetti, snap peas, red peppers and scallions in a bowl, pour over sauce, add the remaining sesame seeds and parsley.  Dig in! Or chill and serve cold. 

 Click here for a printable recipe card.

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