Sesame Noodles

Like most people, I am always on the lookout for something to rescue me from the weeknight dinner grind. We all know the criteria for a good weeknight meal, Quick, easy, not too challenging for the picky palates, but something different for heavens sake because we're all sick to death of the same 4 things!

Sesame Noodles are almost universally popular, easy to make, easy to modify to suit your family's idiosyncratic tastes, and they feel a little special. You can serve them hot or cold (leftovers for the win!) and they go with a lot of different proteins, either on the side or added right in (shredded rotisserie chicken?) On the night pictured, I served them with bagged Asian salad mix and -ahem- chicken fingers, because we're all just trying to make it though the week. These noodles go a long way to redeem chicken fingers, and who needs more than that?

Team Photo: Peanut butter, sriracha, a lime, honey, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and (please pretend what you see is not garlic, but) ginger paste. 

About the ingredients: 

Sriracha-  (found in Asian food aisle) The classic hot sauce with the rooster on the bottle. If you like spicy food, you will find yourself using this wherever you would use ketchup. You will definitely want to adjust this to your taste. The amount in this recipe is very mild, so add more if you want your noodles spicy.

Sesame Oil-  (found in Asian food aisle) This is very expensive, but the flavor is very concentrated, so you only ever use a small amount. It is delicious, so once you have it, you will find ways to use it.

Ginger Paste- (found in produce dept.) Normally, I get an actual piece of ginger root and grate it but the supermarket was out. A tube of ginger paste is good to have on hand, because the rest of these ingredients are regular pantry staples. If you have ginger paste, you can whip this up without a special trip to the store.

This recipe is a good showcase for one of my best dinnertime sanity techniques-- making as much in advance as possible. Here's how it works. In the morning, I make the dressing and prep as much of the vegetables as possible. You could also make the recipe all the way through and serve cold sesame noodles. Either way is delicious.

Make the dressing in a bowl large enough to hold the noodles. Whisk everything but the sesame oil together.

These are two of my favorite kitchen gadgets. A shot glass-sized measuring cup and lemon squeezer make life easier.

When you first add the peanut butter, things will look a little scary, but keep whisking and everything will be fine. Add the sesame oil last. (Notice the beauty of the shot glass measure: everything gets measured in the same vessel, so only one thing to wash, instead of a bunch of spoons!) Don't forget to taste the sauce. You really want to correct the seasonings when you are mixing so many things together. Add more of what you love.

Now it's time to prep the veggies. You should really put some snow peas in this dish, but it was a bad day at the market and they didn't have any. Cucumbers would be nice also, but I'm just using tri-colored peppers. You can just follow your heart. 

In the meantime, here's an easy way to julienne peppers:

Grab your peppers and lop off the top and bottom

Cut through the side, and then along the inside to remove all the ribs and seeds.

Then just go ahead and slice them as thinly as you can.

Now, I will leave for work with my kitchen like this:

Sauce is made, peppers are sliced, and I even have a pot filled with water for the pasta. When I come home...

I turn on the stove and dump the peppers into the sauce.

Boil up half a box of pasta. (You can use rice noodles if you are off wheat.)

Mix it all up and add some chopped cilantro. This took about 15 minutes from walking in the door to sitting down to dinner.

The recipe (adapted from the Boston Globe)

Dressing:

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sriracha

juice of 1 small lime (only use half if it's bigger. Add more if needed when you correct the sauce.)

2 tsp honey

2 inches fresh ginger, grated or about 1 tbsp of ginger paste

3 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp sesame oil.

Whisk first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk in the peanut butter, then the oil. Set aside

Noodles and vegetables:

8oz spaghetti noodles

2-3c thinly sliced vegetables (peppers, cucumbers, snow peas, etc.)

small handful cilantro, chopped.

Boil the pasta, drain and add to dressing with vegetables. Serve hot or chill to serve cold later.