Friday, September 11, 2009

Food Friday - Sesame Noodles

So, Food Fridays are hard. I thought it would be easy because I already have all of my recipes in a word document. Cut and paste is pretty simple. But the pictures trip me up all the time. I am rarely moved to make a recipe that isn't accompanied by a photo so it's not something I want to skip.

Taking a decent picture of food is really hard when you know as little about photography as I do. One thing I do know is that you need good light and the light in our house is not good. Food photographed in bad light does not look appetizing. So, I have to go outside to take the picture. And somehow that's always a problem. Either I start cooking too late and it's dark outside when dinner is ready or I forget to take the picture until after it's gotten dark. Unfortunately, leftovers do not photograph well either.

But! I managed to take a picture of these Sesame Noodles.


These noodles have a unique flavor. They don't taste like anything else in our regular dinner rotation and they're better at room temperature than hot. It's a nice departure from everything else that we eat.


Sesame Noodles
Adapted from Everyday Food, May 2008

6 oz or 1/2 box of whole wheat spaghetti
1 small onion, quartered and sliced into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 small heads broccoli, cut into florets/stems peeled and chopped
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook spaghetti according package directions using extra water to leave room for the vegetables. 4 minutes before spaghetti is done, add onion, bell pepper and broccoli. Cook until pasta is al dente and vegetables are tender-crisp. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, whisk together peanut butter, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Thin the sauce with reserved pasta water. You want a pourable consistency. Add sauce to hot pasta and vegetables. Toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

3 comments:

Erin said...

I always had the same trouble with posting recipes. A bad food photo is worse than no photo, but no photo makes the post almost pointless.

These noodles look pretty good. I'm wondering what other veggies I could use since I know Ben won't eat a bell pepper.

Leslie said...

Oh, no! No bell peppers? Not even sweet, wonderful (and, alas, expensive) red ones?

I think green beans, snow peas and napa cabbage would all be good. You could also do broccoli and cauliflower together. I never get to eat cauliflower because Jeremy doesn't like it but it's good in stuff like this because it will soak up some of the sauce. I've also made them with edamame when we haven't had a lot of protein in our dinners that week.

Erin said...

Yes, even the delicious red peppers. It's very sad. Those are good ideas, though. I'll let you know if I try it. I've been exceedingly lazy about cooking lately.