Noodles with Spinach Peanut Sauce

This is a great dish for hot weather. I have made peanut noodles before, but I wanted to try the idea of getting some vegetables worked right into the sauce, and this worked really well. Plus my kids loved it. You can dress it up by adding tofu, meat, and raw vegetables if you like - later in the summer I'll be adding snap peas, carrots, and eventually red peppers.

1/2 lb spinach, stemmed and washed
2 stalks green garlic (or substitute scapes or garlic cloves)
2-3 Tbsp ginger root, coarsely chopped or grated
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola or peanut oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
Salt to taste
1 lb linguine or other noodles

Lightly steam the spinach, then immerse it in a bowl of cold water to cool it off.

Combine the spinach with the green garlic, soy sauce, oil, vinegar, peanut butter, and honey or brown sugar in the blender and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside (chill if you like).

Cook the noodles in a large pot of salted boiling water. Drain when done, then rinse with cold water until thoroughly cooled. Drain again.

Combine the noodles with the sauce in a large bowl. Serve cold or room temperature.

Serves 4-6.

Thai Peanut Curry with Pork and Vegetables

With coconut milk and peanut butter in the sauce, this is rich, savory, and very satisfying. You can make it entirely with seasonal root vegetables or, if you have peppers in the freezer, use some of those as well (as I did). If you can, pick up a little fresh cilantro at the farmers market today to go on top. Serve this over rice or tossed with noodles.

1 lb ground pork
2 medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp minced ginger root
1 large ripe bell pepper, diced (or 1 cup diced carrots or other root veg)
2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato
1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk (lite is ok)
1-2 tsp Thai red curry paste, or to taste
1/3 - 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
2 tsp lime juice, or to taste
1-2 tsp rice vinegar
1-2 tsp Thai fish sauce (optional)
Salt to taste

Brown the pork in a Dutch oven or similar deep pan. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and cook with the pork for 2-3 minutes. Add vegetables and stir well. Add coconut milk and curry paste and stir well. Cover and cook over low-medium heat until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the peanut butter, lime juice, rice vinegar, and fish sauce (if using). Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. With the peanut butter stirred in, the sauce will be fairly thick.

Serve hot over rice or toss with noodles.

Serves 4-6.

New Potatoes with Peanut Sauce

Mmm, another tasty way to serve new potatoes, along with the scallions and cilantro in season now. You can also substitute noodles for the potatoes, though that would make rather less of a locally based dish.

1/3 - 1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter (preferably natural)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2-3 tsp chili paste
Up to 1/4 cup water
Up to 1/4 cup sugar or honey
1 1/2 - 2 lbs new potatoes, in bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup chopped scallions
2-3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Start by making the peanut sauce: Combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, peanut oil, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, and chili paste in the blender and blend until smooth. Add water a little at a time, blending in between, to reach the desired consistency. The sauce should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to stick to the potatoes.

Taste the sauce and add a little bit of sugar or honey at a time, blending in between, until reaching the desired level of sweetness. Let the sauce sit so the flavors can blend some more while you cook the potatoes.

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender. Don’t overcook, or they will fall apart when you mix them with the sauce.

When the potatoes are cooked, toss them with the peanut sauce.

Serve topped with the scallions and/or cilantro.

Serves 4-6.

Thai Chicken and Vegetables with Cilantro Peanut Sauce

I am still figuring out how to best grow cilantro in the garden for an ongoing but not overwhelming supply. At the end of last week, suddenly it was all bolting and needing to be picked and used. So I made this curry, which is a lovely way to use quite a lot of cilantro at once. This recipe is very loosely adapted from one in Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons. The red peppers and onions came from Crabapple Farm. If you don't eat chicken, this is also perfectly good with tofu.

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts
1 1/2 cups cilantro, coarsely chopped
3-4 Tbsp canola or peanut oil, plus more for sautéing
1 Tbsp lime juice
1-2 tsp chili paste (or to taste)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, in bite-sized cubes
1 large red pepper, diced (frozen is fine)
1 medium onion, sliced lengthwise

Combine the garlic, peanuts, cilantro, oil, lime juice, chili paste, and salt in a food processor and process until well combined. The sauce will be quite thick, almost more like a paste. Set aside.

Heat some oil in a wok or large skillet. Add the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, for 4-5 minutes. Add the pepper and onion and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the sauce and stir to combine well. The cooking juices from the chicken and vegetables will serve to thin the sauce.

Serve over rice, preferably jasmine. Good with coconut rice (substitute 1 14-oz can of coconut milk for a 1 1/4 cups water when cooking the rice).

Serves about 4.

Variations: Substitute 1 lb thinly sliced steak for the chicken. Substitute cashews for the peanuts.