Cold Sesame Noodle Salad

I have this recipe for Cold Sesame Noodle Salad that I made a while ago. I didn't put it in the cookbook because it was still experimental.

Cold Asian Sesame Peanut Butter Noodles
Noodles

1 pound whole wheat linguine
Sauce
3 tablespoon sesame oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 Dash asian chili garlic sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup peanut butter
Veggies
3 medium, scallions trimmed and sliced thin
1 carrot, shredded or Julienned into long strips
1/2 cucumber seeded and coarsely chopped into bite sized pieces
Toppings
3 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1/4 - 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts (optional)
1 chicken breast, diced (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped (optional)

1. Cook the Linguine according to the package instructions. Rinse in cold water and set aside.
2. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan and set aside.
3. Put the sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and chili garlic sauce in a pan and heat through.
4. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and peanut butter and mix.
5. Toss the noodles, chopped veggies and sesame seeds, with the sauce. Refrigerate till cool.
6. Serve with chopped peanuts, diced chicken, and/or chopped parsley.

I wanted to make it for a picnic but I didn't have all the ingredients so I improvised.

Revised Cold Asian Sesame Peanut Butter Noodles
Ingredients

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti broken into short pieces
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

3 tablespoon sesame oil

1 medium onion, cut into strips

1 carrot, Julienned into strips

4 ribs celery, sliced on the bias

3 cloves minced garlic
5 pieces candied ginger, finely diced
1 Dash cumin
1 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cucumber, peeled, and coarsely chopped

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions. Rinse in cold water and set aside.
2. Toast the sesame seeds and peanuts in a dry pan and set aside.
3. Saute onion in the sesame oil until translucent.

4. Add the carrot, celery, and garlic and saute briefly until softened.

5. Add the ginger, cumin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and peanut butter and heat through.
6. Toss the noodles, sesame seeds, and peanuts with the sauce. Refrigerate till cool.
6. Serve with chopped cucumber.

Green Bean Salad

At the farmers markets, green beans appear regularly now. You don't need to do much with fresh green beans, but we've been eating a lot of them, so I thought it was time for a little something different. For this recipe, the key is to add one subtle flavor plus a dramatic one:

Steam the green beans until just tender. If you want this as a cold salad, put the beans in ice water, but the salad is also good warm or at room temperature.

Dressing:
This is just a mustard vinaigrette, but ideally, you should use nut oil. Someone gave us walnut oil as a present, and we've discovered all kinds of delicious uses for it:

1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 T. walnut oil
1 tsp. coarse mustard
1 T. vinegar (preferably sherry vinegar)
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper

Whisk the dressing until well combined. Toss with the beans.

Carrot Salad with Raisins and Walnuts

Carrot Salad with Raisins and Walnuts

4 large carrots
1/2 c raisins
1/2 chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 c vinegar

Clean and shred the carrots
Add the raisins, walnuts, sugar, and vinegar
Toss together and let rest for 2 hours
Good for potluck dinners

I was wanting a carrot salad but something light. So I made this up.