Cold Sesame Noodles with Cucumber

Last Year's Post: Goat Cheese and Chorizo Rolls
Two Years Ago:  Healthy Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs

"Cold" - what a lovely word.  It's been hot lately all over the country, but I think Phoenix must take the prize - it was 111 degrees here yesterday.  It's hot enough that The Lawyer has temporarily lost his enthusiasm for grilling, which is saying something.

When it's this hot, salads sound great.  I find cold noodle salads to be especially appealing because they're light and refreshing.  This one is perfect with its light dressing, cool cucumbers and fresh herbs, and the only cooking you'll need to do is zap some water in the microwave to soften the rice noodles.  After that it's simply a matter of slicing, chopping, and mixing - the whole prep takes maybe 20 minutes tops.  Yes please!

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Cold Sesame Noodles with Cucumber

Serves 4, generously

3/4 pound dried rice noodles
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, plus a splash to loosen noodles
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste or tahini
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
3 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated or brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic (from 1 medium-large clove)
2 teaspoons chili-garlic past
1/2 pound cucumber, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced (optional)

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
A handful of chopped fresh herbs, such as mint and cilantro, for garnish

2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, for garnish

Cook noodles according to package directions and rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well. Drizzle with a tiny splash of toasted sesame oil to keep them from sticking until dressed.

Meanwhile, whisk sesame paste and peanut butter in the bottom of a small bowl, then whisk in soy sauce, rice vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, sugar, ginger, garlic and chile-garlic paste to taste until smooth. Adjust flavors to taste. Toss sauce with cold noodles.

Place a medium-sized amount of noodles in each bowl, followed by a pile of cucumber. Garnish with peanuts, optional jalapeno slices, sesame seeds and herbs. Serve with extra chile-garlic paste on the side.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Last Year's Post: Famous Rum Cake
Two Years Ago:  Wild Rice Salad

Those of you who follow this blog will know that this post is a rather dramatic departure from my normal posts of whole grains, fruit and veggies.  I can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many desserts I've ever posted, much less candy and cookies.  So what gives?   Well, the holidays are coming, and for some inexplicable reason that I've never been able to figure out that means you have to make lots of cookies.  I saw this idea (it's too simple to call it an actual recipe) the other day and was intrigued.  We've all seen cookies with a Hershey's kiss pressed into the top.  What makes this slightly different is that you bake the cookies in mini-muffin tins and press the candy into the top when they're still soft, so the cookie ends up wrapped around the candy.  Sort of a little mini candy tart.  Anyway, I thought it was a cute idea that was worth passing along.

The very simplest approach is to use refrigerated cookie dough, although you could also make your own.  Besides the cookie dough all you need are miniature peanut butter cups and a mini-muffin pan.

You can use any flavor of cookie dough that you want.  I found refrigerated chocolate chip, sugar, and peanut butter cookie dough in my local store.  The chocolate chip and sugar came in long tubes (also called chubs) and the peanut butter came in a flat package with pre-cut dough pieces.  I chose peanut butter because The Lawyer loves both peanut butter cookies and Reese's peanut butter cups.  All you do is cut each dough piece in half, stick them in the muffin tins, and bake until puffed (only about half the time stated on the original cookie package).

My only trauma came when I realized I had 5 minutes left before the cookies came out, which were supposed to be immediately topped with the candies.  Do you know that miniature peanut butter cups have not one, but two wrappings?  How fast can you unwrap 24 of them?  I can tell you from experience that it takes longer than you would think.  If you've ever seen the classic "I Love Lucy" episode where she's trying to wrap candies coming down an ever-faster conveyor belt you'll have a rough idea of what was going on, except I was unwrapping instead.  Those wrappers were flying everywhere.

The cookies are puffed but still quite soft.  Pushing a candy into the center of each one sort of de-puffs it.

The candies melt a little and adhere to the cookies.  At this point, the cookies were still very soft so I decided to put the whole pan in the refrigerator to let them set before trying to take them out of the pan.  I'm not sure that was the greatest idea, because the cookies sort of glued themselves into the cups - I think my non-stick spray probably lost something when refrigerated.  I resorted to using a small sharp knife that I ran carefully around the edge of each cookie to pop them out.  It worked quite well but next time I'll probably just let them cool on the counter rather than refrigerating them.

They're cute little tarts of chocolatey-peanut butter deliciousness.  And of course, you could use a different flavor of cookie dough and a different miniature candy - have fun and make your own signature combination.  This would be a great activity to do with children also.

printable recipe

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

  

Note:  the cookies can be made with any refrigerated cookie dough or homemade cookie dough.  Also, other types of miniature candy may be used.

  

1 (14 oz) package Pillsbury Simply Peanut Butter cookie dough

1 bag Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures

Special equipment:  mini-muffin tin pan

 

 Preheat the oven to 350d.

If using the Pillsbury dough, cut each dough round in half.  If using a tube of refrigerated dough, cut into 1-1.5” slices and cut each slice into quarters.  If using homemade dough, cut into pieces that are approximately ½ ounce of dough for each cookie.

Grease the mini-muffin tin pan and place a piece of dough in each.  Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes, until the cookies are puffed to the rim of the pan.  (Note that this is much less time than listed on the cookie package.) While the cookies bake, unwrap as many candies as you need to fit your muffin pan, one per cookie.

After the cookies are removed from the oven, immediately place one candy on top of each and gently press into the cookie with your finger until the top of the candy is level with the top of the cookie.  The candies will melt slightly.

Let cool in the pan, then carefully remove with a small spoon or by running a small sharp knife around the edges to pop the cookies out.

  

Spicy Homemade Peanut Butter

I heard on the news this week that a peanut butter recall is going on nationwide so it seemed like a good time to publish this particular post.

Any time I make something that's readily available in a store I think of my mother and smile.  A few years back I called to chat and she asked me what I had done that day.  When I replied that I had baked hamburger buns there was this pause on the other end of the line.  Then she said, "why would anyone make hamburger buns when you can buy perfectly good ones at the store?"  Therein lies the difference between us.  I make things because it's fun.  Or because I've never tried them before.  My mother, on the other hand, was the original devotee of boiling bags and all things microwaved.  She gave away her pots and pans and now owns exactly one small knife that I think she uses to slice bananas.  The servers at local restaurants know her by name.  She occasionally wonders aloud how she could have a daughter who likes to cook - she primarily likes to discuss politics. 

Anyway, I was surfing the Internet looking for a recipe for a sandwich from the Dominican Republic and ended up finding one for spicy peanut butter from the Dominican Republic instead.  Of course I was immediately intrigued because I've never made peanut butter before.  It didn't seem too hard - all you do is grind up some peanuts with a little oil, salt and a hot pepper - so I ran out and bought the ingredients and some cute little jars.

The name of the peanut butter is Mamba.  It's made in varying degrees of spiciness by using anything from no peppers at all to using scotch bonnets, one of the hottest peppers on earth.  For my first experiment I decided to use a jalapeno because I was familiar with the degree of heat it has.  I first added half a pepper and The Lawyer and I both tasted it.  We could barely taste any heat at all so I added the remainder.  It still has just a slightly spicy flavor so the peanuts and oil must suck up the heat somehow. (technical explanation)  The overall flavor is more fresh than normal peanut butter and the texture is lighter and less sticky. It's great on toast or anywhere else you normally use peanut butter.  Next time I make it I think I'll experiment with adding some mild chile powder in addition to the jalapeno.  That's the fun of making your own!  If spicy isn't your thing, think of adding some cinnamon instead of the pepper - cinnamon and peanut butter go really well together.  Or how about pumpkin pie spice?  Get creative and you can experiment with all kinds of flavor combinations.

I used unsalted dry-roasted peanuts and noted that I needed a full two tablespoons of peanut oil to make it turn into a paste when the recipe only called for one.  I have the feeling that the author used oil-roasted, not dry-roasted peanuts.  Just be aware if you try the recipe that the amount of oil will vary according to what type of peanuts you use.  Be sure to use unsalted peanuts or taste before adding the salt if you can only find salted peanuts.

So, if you're one of those curious people like me, give it a try and see what you think.  It's really easy and you don't have to run out and get cute jars, you could just put it in any container you have to refrigerate it.  But I had seen these jars at Crate and Barrel and it was a great excuse to buy a couple.

* * click here for a printable recipe * *

Spicy Homemade Peanut Butter
Makes about 4 ounces

1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1-2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 spicy pepper (such as jalapeno or hotter), stemmed and seeded
½ teaspoon salt

Pulse the peanuts in a food processor until it becomes a smooth paste. Add oil, one tablespoon at a time, to make the paste smoother to your liking. Add half the pepper and the salt and pulse until well mixed. Taste, and add the second half of the pepper if you want it spicier. Pulse again until smooth.

Pour into a clean container with a tight-fitting lid and keep refrigerated.

Pork with Thai Peanut Sauce

I want to tell a quick story that has absolutely nothing to do with food, but it's true and it's funny.  First I must confess that I bruise easily, am always in a rush, and am a klutz.  Not a good combination.  So last week I was in urgent care dealing with the lingering symptoms of one of my more spectacular recent bruises and the doctor looked at me, squinted his eyes, and said "maybe you should slow down a little".  What? How did he know?  OK, maybe my one or two other bruises were a clue.  I explained to him that really I'm just a klutz.  He gave me a slight smile and said "well, if you slow down you might still run into things but you won't bruise as much".  A doctor with a sense of humor!  I like this guy.  For a moment I considered changing my blog name to "The Black and Blue Blogger" but that was too much alliteration.

OK, enough silliness and on to the recipe.  This is truly one of my all-time favorites.  It's warm without being overly spicy, and it's really all about the sauce.  Peanut butter and salsa might sound weird but trust me, it works.  The recipe calls for boneless pork chops which can often turn out dry, but are nice and juicy here because they're cut into strips and cooked quickly.  I tried the recipe once with pork tenderloin strips reasoning that they might be even more tender, but I actually prefer the pork chop strips.  The pork tenderloin tended to be too soft when cut into strips.  I usually serve this dish over brown rice but it would certainly work with white rice or even pasta.  Of course if you like spicy food, feel free to add in some crushed red pepper or minced jalapenos.

***for a printable recipe version click here***

Pork with Thai Peanut Sauce
4 servings

18 oz boneless pork chops, cut into stir fry strips
1-1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds (I use half toasted white and half black)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
3 cups hot cooked brown or white rice

For sauce, combine salsa, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, molasses and water in a medium saucepan and heat to a simmer, stirring often.  Keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a large plastic bag combine chili powder, ginger, garlic salt and pepper.  Add pork strips and shake until the pork is coated with spices.  In a large skillet heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat; cook and stir pork strips for 2-3 minutes.

Spoon the rice onto plates.  Pour sauce over the rice, arrange pork strips over the sauce, and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.