Ooodles of Asian Noodles and More

When warm weather hits like it has this weekend, it's nice to be able to turn to a fairly quick and easy and filling pasta salad to sit on the plate with chicken fresh off the grill. Sweetie brushed on some teriyaki sauce while he grilled them, so that had  a nice dark color and Asian flavor. I contributed a dish I'd seen on the Food Network a week or so ago.

It's called Sesame Peanut Noodles, and it has two kinds of peanuts - peanut butter and chopped peanuts, plus cilantro, lime, fresh ginger, rice vinegar and soy sauce which combine together to make a great sauce, along with a little honey and some toasted sesame oil. The recipe called for toasted sesame seeds, too, but I'm supposed to take it easy on sesame seeds, so I skipped that part. The pasta is whole wheat linguine and the salad part includes sliced cabbage, green onion, red pepper (and some broccoli slaw because I had some and wanted to add it). Sweetie and Straight Shooter both loved it and even though it makes a big bowl, we somehow managed to polish off every strand and chunk.

The most time consuming part of this was measuring out the ingredients for the sauce, grating the fresh ginger and lime zest, and juicing the lime. The pasta cooks while you make the sauce and chop up the veggies and then you just toss the drained pasta with the veggies and sauce and sprinkle chopped peanuts on top. Yum!

Sesame Peanut Noodles
from the Food Network

Ingredients
12 oz. linguine
Peanut Dressing:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Sriracha (I used some cayenne pepper instead)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
Salad:
1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced (I used some broccoli slaw mix, too)
1/3 red bell pepper, in thin strips
1/4 cup roughly chopped skinless roasted peanuts, for garnish

Directions
Put a large pot of water on to boil. When water is boiling, add the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente. Do not overcook. Drain, reserving some of the starchy pasta water, rinse and set aside.

For the peanut dressing: Place the peanut butter in a large measuring cup and microwave to soften, 15 seconds. Whisk in with the soy sauce, vinegar, canola oil, ginger, honey, Sriracha, sesame oil and lime zest and juice in a small bowl. Thin with the starchy pasta water if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. (Dressing should be thick, but pourable.)

For the salad: Place the pasta in a large mixing bowl and add the cilantro and vegetables and toss with the dressing. Top with the chopped peanuts  and serve.

Assertive Citrus Chicken

I grew up to be a shy person, up until I went to college. No one would have called me assertive. It came as quite a revelation to me, when I finally shed my shy behaviors and blossomed, that being assertive could be fun. Understand, I'm still shy inside, I just don't behave that way. I suspect that there are a lot of people who do the same.

Ducks and geese are very assertive, but chickens seem to mostly be silly. Recently Sweetie and I took care of our neighbor's flock of chickens, all 30 strong, and had the devil of a time getting them to go into the hen house at night, not because they were being assertive but because they were being distracted by the goat who wanted to play with all of us. One of us would chase them toward the door and the other would try to keep the goat away and wave the chickens into the doorway at the same time. I'm sure it would have been a hit on YouTube if anyone had filmed it.

A good time for a chicken to be assertive is when it is cooked. In this recipe the fairly forward flavors of cilantro, garlic, scallions, citrus and soy join up in a marinade for chicken thighs that is full of zestiness but not heat. I served it with steamed rice and steamed broccoli. The marinade went pretty well with those, too. There is an Asian sensibility to the marinade that I really enjoyed. The flavorful crispy skin was a nice bite of luxury, too.

As with many recipes I made a few changes. For one thing it has been a warm day. Sweetie offered to grill the chicken, instead of broiling it, to keep the kitchen cooler. Had my vote! I also found that I only had half a lime, so I added extra orange juice and zest for plenty of citrusness. I used a sharp knife to cut strips of the citrus zest and let the food processor chop them up instead of zesting the skin.  The finished chicken was pretty salty, so next time I'll cut back on the salt some. I also marinated it for about 4 hours, but it was absolutely delicious (other than salty), so that is not a problem.

I think that this recipe could easily be doubled if you are going to have  a larger group than 4. With those assertive flavors, the piece we have left over will probably taste even better tomorrow.

 

Citrus Marinated Chicken Thighs
from Bon Appetit magazine, Aug. 2013

"An aggressively seasoned marinade delivers big flavor"

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems only, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 lb. bone-in chicken thighs with skin left on

Set aside 1/4 cup of the sliced scallions for garnish.

Pulse cilantro, garlic, zests, juices, soy sauce, oil and salt and remaining scallions (green onions)in a food processor or blender until a coarse puree forms. Set aside 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place the remaining marinade in a large reseal able plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn to coat. Chill at least 20 minutes. If chilling longer (up to 2 hours ahead), occasionally turn bag over to redistribute the marinade. Keep chilled.

Preheat broiler or prepare grill. Remove chicken from marinade and dispose of used marinade. To broil, place chicken, skin side down,  on a foil-lined broiler-proof baking sheet. Broil chicken until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn pieces over and continue to broil until cooked through. An instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. - 12 - 15 minutes longer. To cook on grill, place chicken pieces, skin side down on prepared grill and grill 5 minutes. Turn and grill until cooked through, about 12 - 15 minutes longer. Use same technique as above to test for doneness.

Serve chicken with reserved marinade and sprinkle on the scallions. Serves 4.

Satay with the Daring Cooks

Street food is very trendy right now. With the aid of Twitter and the Internet and cell phones vendors can set up, even without permits, let their 'faithful' know where they are and quickly draw crowds in urban areas, sell out, then drift off before the authorities can tag them. There have been reports of that kind of bandit street food and licensed street food becoming the hottest thing in San Francisco and Seattle and other large cities. Legitimate cart vendors often have a regular place they are found by their fans and their food is also a draw and often quite good, plus less expensive than regular restaurants.

The Daring Cooks have made some of the kinds of food that work well as street food, including pho, dosas, potstickers, and Spanish rice, to name a few. I've been unable to participate in some of these challenges but hope to do better in 2010.

To start the new year, the challenge is making satay. The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. Satay is also a great kind of street food because it is marinated, comes on a stick for ease of transportation, and can be quickly cooked over charcoal. For this challenge Cuppy challenges us with two marinades and three sauces. I chose to make the slightly more labor intensive marinade. Actually, with the use of a food processor, this is super, super quick and easy.

Juicing the lemon was the most time consuming part. I went easy on the chilies since I'm not partial to heat spicy. While the chicken thigh strips were marinating in the 'fridge, I put together the peanut sauce, again going easy on the hot stuff. I did add some fresh cilantro, chopped, and some diced peanuts. Served up on a bed of fresh baby spinach and cilantro, this was a delightful snack or appetizer. Thank you Cuppy for stepping up to the plate as host at the last minute and for choosing a food that I've often enjoyed in restaurants but never tried making. Now it will be a go to recipe for entertaining...or just because I want some. You can use port or beef or tofu instead of the chicken, too.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Marinade
1/2 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ginger root, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil)
1 pound chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch strips

In a food process or blender, place the onion, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, soy sauce, spices and vegetable oil. Process or blend until smooth. Scrape into a zip lock type bag large enough to hold the marinade and chicken. Add the chicken, lock the bag, and shake to distribute the marinade. Refrigerate, turning the bag a few times during the marinating period of 1-4 hours (and up to 12 hours).

While the chicken is marinating, prepare the skewers. Lightly oil metal skewers. Soak wooden skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes.

Peanut Sauce - can be made toward end of marinating period or right after chicken cooks
3/4 cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
3-4 tablespoons chopped peanuts for garnish

Mix coconut milk and peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat. In a small bowl blend the lemon juice, soy, brown sugar, cayenne, cilantro and garlic salt. Stir into the peanut mixture. Heat through. Put into small dipping bowl and garnish with chopped peanuts.

Cooking the Satay


Remove the marinated chicken from the marinade. Thread the strips onto the skewers. Cook over preheated grill or under broiler for 5-10 minutes until cooked through, turning once.

Presentation
Group some fresh baby spinach leaves on a small plate. Place dipping sauce bowl at one side of plate. Place skewers over spinach leaves, or slide chicken off skewers onto spinach. Serve while hot. The photo is at the top of the post to show how it turned out.