Every now and then, you run across a recipe that has unusual ingredients and you may wonder, "How does that taste?" And, as the familiar adage states, "How do you know you won't like something until you try it?" One great feature of preparing new recipes is the ability to determine whether the dish will be something you'll add to your recipe files or something that you probably won't make again. Whatever the case, we hope you'll try the recipe below for Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce.
The recipe combines spaghetti with an ingredient your children are most likely familiar with--peanut butter. This dish was inspired by the classic Chinese take-out food, sesame noodles. While these noodles are usually combined with a sauce made from soy sauce, we replaced the soy sauce with chicken broth to give the noodles a slightly different flavor than the soy sauce usually provides and added peanut butter for a slightly nutty taste. Be sure to use only the smooth peanut butter for the sauce. The chunky textured peanut butter will make your sauce too thick, resulting in the sauce becoming more like a thick paste than a light dressing for the noodles.
RECIPE
Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce
Serves 4
Coarse salt
1 pound spaghetti
8 ounces snow peas, sliced lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, cut into long thin strips
1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon lime juice or lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti until the noodles are al dente, according to the package directions. Drain and rinse the spaghetti with cold water. In a large bowl, combine the pasta with the snow peas and the bell pepper.
2. In a small saucepan, stir the chicken broth into the peanut butter. Heat and stir with a whisk until the peanut butter melts. Stir in the water, lime or lemon juice, pepper, salt and garlic; heat through. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool. Pour the dressing over the noodles and the vegetables; toss the noodles to coat with the dressing. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Note: This dish can be made with Japanese noodles, such as udon or soba, or Chinese rice noodles. Cook according to the package instructions. You can find udon, soba and other specialty Asian noodles in some supermarkets or in an ethnic grocery store in your area.
