mid-week meal share: peanut noodle pasta salad

Gaiiiiiiiiiz. I was searching through my saved recipes and came across this peanut noodle pasta salad that I had saved all the way back in January and I was so happy to find it again! Such a complete success and a perfect dish to bring to any upcoming bbq's or parties.

Easy to concoct: real easy but there are a lot of ingredients

Cost effective: ~$15 depending on what main ingredients your pantry is lacking

It's a long one and I said, "hell no" to my usual cutting board regimen:

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp sriracha

¼ cup water

1 tbsp minced ginger

1½ tsp (3 cloves) minced garlic

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 box whole grain linguine (or other)

1 cup shredded carrots

2 cucumbers, shaved

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips

½ cup sliced green onion*

¼ cup sliced cilantro

¼ cup chopped peanuts

PHEW. A few things: rice vinegar is cheap, $2 for a large bottle; sesame oil, not so cheap (at least when it comes to only needing 1 tbsp). I had some from a recipe I made awhile ago and probably would not have bought it for this ($6-10 a bottle), I just would have substituted for vegetable oil. The sesame is likely an Asian flavor enhancer but not to the extent of altering the entire dish if it not used.

Moving on to the instructions.

1. Boil up the noodles you so carefully selected.

2. While waiting for your water to boil and for your noodles to "al dente"fy, chop up those veggies and nuts. I diced my red and yellow peppers because I knew if I didn't I would pick around them. On occasion I have been known to eat like a child like, I purposely left out green onions and I could not find cilantro.

 

3. Comfort an upset Piper because she busted her arm on the table climbing off her chair.

4. When your noodles are done, strain them and run them under cold water. 

5. In a mixing bowl combine together the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha, water, minced ginger, minced garlic, and brown sugar. Initially I used a spatula but switched to a whisk because the job was just not getting done.

6. Put your noodles in a large bowl and add in your veggies and sauce. You will have to break Piper's heart and wrestle the carrots away from her.

 

7. Mix together and "chill for one hour".

 

8. Enjoy!

 

First off, there was no way I was going to let that puppy chill for an hour. I was way too hungry after all the measuring and cutting I did. Also, I'm pretty sure the whole wheat noodles are to give the illusion that the noodles are so well covered in sauce. Don't get me wrong there is enough, just saying.

Leftovers for days.

Leia