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Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles

Spicy peanut sesame noodles is one of my favorite meals to eat in the summer, and my kids love it too. As soon as it started to get warm here my craving for sesame noodles came back. Of course it doesn’t seem to stay warm here this spring, so luckily I jumped right on my craving while the weather was, briefly, still nice. I like to serve this warm, but not hot. You can eat it cold, but the sauce gets a little coagulated — even that word is unattractive — and you don’t want it hot or the vegetables will get wilted. I’ve reworked and tweaked this recipe over the years. I think it’s finally just about perfect.


Sesame Noodles

Recipe by Crafty Farm Girl, 2011.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

For peanut sauce:
1 (16 ounce) package linguine pasta
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4-1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
6 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons chili sauce or hot chili oil
6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 tablespoons minced or grated ginger
4 tablespoons sugar

For Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cleaned of any fat and skin
32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
1 garlic clove, sliced
3/4″ ginger, peeled and sliced
a few stems of cilantro

4 carrots, peeled and thinly julienned
6 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Directions:

Place the garlic, ginger and cilantro into a medium pot. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Drop the chicken breasts into the simmering broth, cover and poach the breasts until cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Slice into the thickest part of a breast to check for doneness. You do not want them raw, but you do not want them to cook longer than necessary or they will get tough.

Remove chicken from the pot and discard the poaching liquid. Cool breasts until you can handle them and then slice them into thin strips. Place sliced chicken in a bowl and set aside.



Prepare all of your other ingredients before you cook your pasta.

Mise en Place all of your ingredients prior to cooking pasta



Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a serving bowl.



While pasta is cooking whisk together the soy sauce with the sugar and peanut butter; it will look awful and then will come together to form a paste. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking, then whisk in the rice vinegar. Drizzle and whisk in the sesame oil and chili oil or chili paste. Finally whisk in the garlic and ginger.



Pour sauce over linguine, and then add chicken, green onions, chopped cilantro and julienned carrots and toss to coat. Garnish with sesame seeds.



Serve warm. Delicious!