Spicy Thai Noodles

There has been an offensive amount of baking this past weekend. My oven was on for 6 straight hours Friday morning/afternoon. And it's not about to slow down! I don't mind one bit, actually. I'm really enjoying it. It's been a perfect distraction from the usual continued-semester/finals-week widowing. Thankfully, Ryan takes his last final this Friday: the day before my birthday. This will be our first December in 6 years when neither of us has an end-of-semester college final on my birthday. I know, we're pretty psyched.

. . .

The busy baking bustle of the holidays still includes me feeding my son and husband a decent dinner, but unfortunately with me a not-so-decent dinner (stomach spoiled by too many cookies from said baking).Yikes. Double yikes. Worth it? Only if I can get a run in at some point that day.

This dish was loaded with all kinds of spicy/mild flavors (oxymoron, I know). But they balance each other out so well, and easily filled our bellies. I love Thai noodles, especially with raw fresh ingredients gracing each bite with such a delightful crisp. I made a few adjustments to the recipe: I added peanut butter because it makes the sauce a bit creamier and complimented the raw peanuts on top. Also, I served mine warm. The original recipe calls for chilling, and serving the dang thing cold. It's winter, I'm serving it warm. I totally regret not having carrots on hand to toss on the mixture, too. It would have been amazing, and given the dish more color to play with.

These noodles were wonderful, and would serve as great eat-it-now-or-later kind of meal. The noodles only became more sinfully savory with each minute. Re-visiting them for lunch the next day was nothing short of perfect.

Also, Baking with Blondie made The Huffington Post again today! Check it out here.

 

Spicy Thai Noodles

Ingredients:

1 box linguine 

1 T crushed red pepper

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/4 C sesame oil

6 T honey

6 T soy sauce

1/4 C peanut butter (optional) 

add-ins: green onions, cilantro, raw peanuts, shredded raw carrots, toasted sesame seeds

Method:

1. Boil noodles, drain. 

2. While noodles are boiling, chop green onions, cilantro, and peanuts. 

3. Heat both oils and crushed red pepper over medium heat in a small pan. Strain out red peppers, reserving oil in pan.

4. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add honey, soy sauce, and peanut butter (optional). Stir until uniform throughout and mixture is bubbling. 

5. Remove from heat and toss sauce with noodles. Before serving, top each individual serving with onions, cilantro, peanuts, carrots, and toasted sesame seeds. Serve warm or cold. 

Recipe adapted from: a small snippet

servings: about 6