This has been an unusually cool summer, with really pleasant evenings and occasional days that hover merely in the 80s--some days it has really felt more like October or early spring around here. Good summer weather has facilitated a couple of dinnertime picnics which are a nice change from the usual retreat into air conditioning that normally goes with July in Georgia. These peanut noodles are perfect picnic fare--they make a delicious vegetarian dinner but are easily modified for carnivores with slices of grilled chicken on top.
Mince up 2 cloves garlic and a chunk of fresh ginger (however much you like--I think I used about a 2" piece).
Combine the garlic and ginger with 3/4 cup of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon minced cilantro, 1/3 cup tamari, a teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup hot water. Purée this all together with an immersion blender, or a regular blender or a food processor or whatever. You can probably do it by hand too, although I have never tried that. Add a little more hot water if the mixture is too thick to blend into a smooth paste.
Taste it and see if it needs tweaking--I think I ended up adding a little more peanut butter and tamari to mine, and probably a dash more red pepper because I like it hot. So feel free to play with the amounts of ingredients in the sauce, is what I'm saying. After you like the balance, squeeze in some lime juice and/or a splash of rice wine vinegar, blend and then taste again until it is perfect.
Get some noodles ready to meet this fine peanut sauce--I used these dried udon but linguine or any other flat, thicker pasta will work fine.
Boil them up al dente and when they're ready, drain and toss with a little sesame oil so they don't get sticky. Then toss together while still hot with your peanut sauce mixture.
Meanwhile, make a quick, tangy vegetable topping for your noodles. It's a great contrast to the super unctous peanut sauce. Slice up 2-3 carrots on a mandoline into thin ribbons(if you lack a mandoline just use a sharp knife and your skills of precision).
Do the same with a cucumber...
Toss these veggies together with 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, a pinch of salt and minced cilantro or parsley. Let them chill out and marinate while you finish other things but not for longer than about 30 minutes or so--you want them to stay crunchy.
If you're making this salad for non-vegetarians, go ahead and grill some chicken breasts to slice up and top the noodles (I marinated mine in lime juice beforehand). Tofu would be good too--chunks of the teriyaki flavored, pressed tofu from Trader Joes tossed together in this would be AWESOME.
To assemble your salad, lay the strips of chicken (if using) on top of a tangle of peanut sauce dressed noodles, plus a healthy toppping of the carrots and cucumber. Reserve some minced cilantro and sesame seeds to sprinkle over everything at the very last minute.
Sadly, I actually i don't have a great picture of the final product, but here it is all packed up to take along on a picnic:
This is super yummy and works equally well as a salsa (especially with salty blue corn chips) or as a topping for grilled fish, chicken or pork--kind of the perfect summertime relish. Katie had just given me some tomatoes and mystery peppers from her bountiful garden, I had dried black beans in the pantry and a mango that was about to tip over into too-ripeness. Phil had been talking about this stacked black bean+tropical fruit+chicken dish that his mom makes, and it sounded like a good flavor combo, so I was like OK, gonna steal that idea and make it in salsa form right this second because for once I have everything I need on hand already. Who knows when it might happen again?
I covered about 1 cup of black beans in water and brought to boil, then simmered until tender for about an hour and a half. Obviously you can use canned black beans instead if you prefer (drain and rinse them well beforehand) but this was all about me making this entirely from ingredients on hand so I just cooked up the dried beans that were collecting dust on my pantry shelf. When they were cooked through, I drained them and let them sit in about 1/2 cup of orange juice while I prepped the rest of my ingredients. Black beans and citrus are like a match made in heaven.
Meanwhile I chopped up two beautiful roma tomatoes from Katie's garden and one reddish funky pepper (she thinks two pepper types--sweet and hot--cross-pollinated in her garden resulting in this tasty lovechild). You can use a serrano pepper if you like the heat plus a small red bell for sweetness. Actually, any kind of pepper from the farmer's market will be good here--this is a flexible, improvisational kind of salsa after all. I also diced up 1 small sweet onion and 1 small cucumber for extra crunch. Add in 1 diced ripe mango.
I added all these veggies to my black beans in orange juice, plus 2 tablespoons minced cilantro, the juice from 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt and mixed it all up. If your fruit is very soft, you can add in the diced mango at the very last minute instead. Just be sure to combine once gently to avoid pulverizing any super ripe mango chunks.
The first night, I put it over grilled pork but like I said, it's great for fish or chicken too. It actually mostly got eaten as a salsa at a picnic the next day and for lunch throughout the week, so as you can see, this is a good thing to make in a big batch.
