Recipe Review: Sesame Noodles with Chicken

October 31, 2014 by quirkyjazz 1 Comment

Image by John Herschell via Flickr CC license

I am fortunate to live near a Half-Price Books bookstore.  I love books, stationery, music, cards, CDS and LPs — you name it — this store seems to have it.

I tend to browse the cookbooks at this store, even though I already have a HUGE collection of cookbooks at home.  (I also have a really good Goodwill store nearby, too.  Hardback books, including cookbooks, are only $1.79.)

On a recent trip to Half-Price Books I got Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes.  

I have a combination of three part-time jobs right now, so cooking dinner has become a somewhat rarer activity than it was previously.

I decided to try this recipe because you can only eat out so many times in a week before you get tired of

• food that involves deep-frying
• food that involves a drive through
• food that begins to all taste the same
• food that has no vegetables in it

Ingredients:  *I tweaked a few ingredients and amounts so this isn’t exactly like the recipe in the book

1 pound of spaghetti noodles (or Chinese egg noodles if you can find them)
2 T. toasted sesame oil
1 whole roasted deli chicken
1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced
4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts)
1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts
cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
2 T brown sugar
1 T rice vinegar
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water.  Drain and toss with sesame oil

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the garnishes and sauce.
Also de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken.   Cut the meat off the bones; save the “runnin’ gears”– the bones, skin and carcass — to make some quick chicken stock for future use.  Keep the meat warm until the pasta is ready.

Garnishes:
1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced
4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts)
1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts
cilantro, chopped

Mix the ingredients (listed below) in a blender and blend thoroughly.  Toss this mixture with the pasta.
1 clove garlic
1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
2 T brown sugar
1 T rice vinegar
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)

1. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.  Drain.  Put it in a large bowl and toss it with the 2 T of sesame oil.
2. While the pasta is cooking, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a blender.  Blend.  Add this mix to the sesame oiled pasta.
3. Also while the pasta cooks, de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken.  Prepare the garnishes.
4. To serve:  Put pasta on a plate.  Top with desired amount of chicken plus generous garnishes of cilantro, peanuts, scallions, and cucumber.

Image by Madeleine via Flickr CC license This image is not the actual recipe I’m posting. It looks very similar to this, though.

REVIEW:  This recipe was quick to fix.  It has very good flavor and was delicious.  I happened to have nearly all the sauce ingredients on hand, so it was not a huge amount of items to buy at the grocery store — basically just a deli chicken, a cucumber and maybe some spaghetti, cilantro and scallions if you happen to have none of those things at the moment.  I liked the fact that it tasted a little Thai and a little Chinese — but that it wasn’t overly spiced in either direction.  You could definitely bump up the crushed red pepper if you need more heat or add Siracha sauce at the table.

This could easily be made vegetarian if you leave out the chicken.  You could add tofu.

I think it would be good with grilled shrimp instead of the chicken.  If you have them, fresh bean sprouts would give a nice crunch as well.  You could use honey instead of brown sugar in the sauce.  I grated my ginger into the blender because I didn’t want to chomp down on an unblended chunk of ginger.  I would add more garlic next time, too.

It would be nice to add some toasted sesame seeds.  I didn’t have time or energy for that, but it would be good.

FULL FORKS for this one!  FIVE FORKS! Go fo it!  Please let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it.

Thanks for reading and cooking with me.

Possible recipes for the photo I found on Flickr:
http://leitesculinaria.com/73673/recipes-sesame-peanut-noodles.html
http://leitesculinaria.com/18259/recipes-asian-noodle-salad-peanut-dressing.html