Whole Wheat Asian Noodle Salad

I helped a friend with a party for another friend's "landmark" birthday.  What a blast!  Great food, drink and friends to celebrate her day.  About an hour before the party, I was asked to make the Asian Noodle Salad, of course I knew I could wing it, but wanted to respect her, so asked for the recipe!  I had a laugh to see that she was using an old recipe card that we had collaborated on about 10 years ago for a marketing gimmick.  What a laugh, I haven't thought of that salad for a long time....

Anyway, she had pre-cooked the noodles, and there were a BUNCH of them.  I got her biggest bowl and started mixing... this salad just seemed to grow and grow, I joked about moving it to the bath tub soon.  Really, while you think you might want to double this for a big crowd, be careful, you may not have bowls big enough to accomodate all the salad! This recipe for one pound of noodles filled my largest bowl!

So many recipes call for some fancy Asian noodles, which depending on the day, I may, or may not have on hand.  I like these whole wheat spaghetti noodles for this dish which are somewhat like Soba noodles, and heck, really good for you too.  I bought the 6 pack of these at Costco, so I'd better think of something other than spaghetti sauce to serve with them!

I've listed a lot of different types of veggies below, and you may not have all of them, but really use what you've got!  I even used the leftover carrots I had pickling from my Banh Mi Sandwiches last week, they added an additional tang to the salad and were great in it!

Serves about 8 big eaters, or about 16 side salads
Ingredients:
1 16oz. package of whole wheat spaghetti

Dressing:
1/3 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp garlic red pepper sauce
red pepper flakes, to taste, as needed
1-2 tsp fresh* ginger, grated

Veggies & salad add ins:
1 cup edamame, frozen & pre-shelled
1 cup celery, cut on the diagonal
1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup carrots, cut into matchsticks
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
1-2 cups of shredded cooked chicken (optional)

Cook the noodles until cooked, but still firm, about 7 minutes.  Drain and rinse in cold water.  Let cool.

Mix together all salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.  This recipe does have lots of soy sauce and sesame oil in it, but it's what makes it taste so great!  You will probably not need to add any salt, but if you're worried about sodium intake, you might want to reduce the amount of soy sauce.  I used an Asian red pepper garlic paste in my dressing, but you could easily use crushed garlic and red pepper flakes.
*I also added grated ginger, I almost always have it on hand because I keep it in the freezer!  It lasts a long time and you can grate it when it's frozen!   When you buy some, just throw it in a ziploc bag and keep it frozen.  It lasts a lot longer like that, and you always have it when you need it!

Toss the noodles with the dressing and start adding your fresh vegetable ingredients and chicken, if you are using.  The salad should sit for 30 minutes or so to keep soaking in the dressing.  This is a great salad to make ahead and keeps nicely.  It also would work for picnics because you wouldn't need to keep it chilled if you were not using chicken. 

If you liked this, you might also like these:
Larb Gai, (Thai turkey salad)
Thai Chicken Nachos
Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Still have some leftover edamame?  Try one of these...

Southwestern Edamame Salad 
Marinated Tofu and edamame Salad
Edamame Succotash

Shrimp, Cream & White Beans over Rice- Cajun Comfort Food

I love New Orleans, what an amazing combination of food, music and culture! Recently, while watching reruns of Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations", I noticed a dish I've never even heard of... Shrimp, Cream and White Beans over Rice.

I asked a buddy from New Orleans about a dish like this and he said he wasn't not famliar with it, and that fact coupled with very few recipes coming back when I searched online, lead me to believe that this is not a well known dish.  This recipe was adapted from one I found from a place called Cafe Reconcile's white beans and shrimp. I was thrilled to realize that this was the Cafe featured on Anthony Bourdain's show.  This is quite an amazling place that provides restaurant training for New Orlean's youth from kitchen to the front end contact with the customer... looks like a great place to check out next time I get back to New Orleans.  New Orleans is somewhere that gets in your blood and you just have to get back to...

I had a hard time deciding whether this dish was Cajun or Creole, but after doing a little research, I'm going to consider it Cajun.  The main difference that I could see that Cajun is Provincial French country inspired dishes with a Louisiana flair, while Creole was a blend of multiple cultures and more high class fare.  This dish also fits two categories to be Cajun: it has the "holy trinity" (a blend of onions, celery and bell pepper) and the "three pot" meal distinction, one for the main course, one for the rice and one for a vegetable. 

Makes 5-6 servings
Ingredients:
2 15oz. cans of small white beans
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell peppers, (I used a combination of colors!)
1/4 cup chopped garlic
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter
1/2  teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2  teaspoon black pepper
1/2  teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash of hot sauce, to taste
2 cups half n half, or heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
2-3 tsp salt, to taste

Chop all the onion, celery and bell pepper in 1/4" to 1/2" dice. Saute in olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes over medium high heat, stirring often.  Add the garlic and saute for 2-3 more minutes.  Add the butter and the flour and stir, the mixture will thicken a bit as the you cook it for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the thyme, cayenne and the hot sauce.  Add the undrained beans and the chopped parsley.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium heat.  Add the half and half and stir as the mixture starts to thicken again.  Add the shrimp, and cook gently until pink. Adjust the seasoning with added salt as needed.

Serve over white rice and the hot sauce on the side!

Other Comfort Food you might be interested in:
Jambalaya- Chicken, Hot Links & Shrimp
Beef Stroganoff
Moroccan Pot Roast