More scallions from the CSA

Eg continues to get the weekly CSA box.  She’s an accomplished cook, so she does know what one can do with everything in the box, but like all of us, or at least most of us, when week after week you get more of the same thing, she looks for something else to do with it.

This week there were scallions again.  The scallion pancakes were really good, but a bit calorific.  The plus side is that you could make eight of them and freeze six of them for the future, but what if you can’t afford that many calories in the future?  And what to do when the future holds many more weeks of scallions?

Noodle salad with peanut sauce

We agreed that I would publish something to do with part of the CSA box every week.  Last week it was the scallion pancakes.  This week it’s Vietnamese noodle bowls.  This is good food, and even nicer, just when the weather makes you want to escape to the parks, it takes almost no time to make.  There’s a bit of cutting, then all of one minute of cooking, a couple more minutes to mix up the dressing.  Admit it, it would take you more time to drive to California Tortilla or Baja Fresh.

I’ve made two versions this week.  The one shown here is the more robust of the two, heavier and richer.  I didn’t actually mean for this version to be the only one I published, but the other one was finished at a time when I felt ravenous and I ate it without taking a picture!  It didn’t look that different from this one, though, so use your imagination.  This salad has cucumber, carrot, scallion and radish slices and then chopped peanuts.  This salad was GREAT.

The difference between the two is the sauce.  I really love both, but I will probably tweak at the sauce on the lighter one for a while and eat it more often, just because it’s such a great opportunity to eat something really delicious and low in calories at the same time.  My only problem will be keeping in fish sauce, which is invisible in C di C.  How strange that 2000 years ago fish sauce was the single most important condiment among the Romans and today no one would know it if they fell over a barrel of it.

Light Noodle Salad Dressing

1 tablespoons (cucchiai) fish sauce
4 tablespoons (cucchiai) rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon (cucchiaino) sugar
1/3 teaspoon (cucchiaino)
a pinch of crushed chili pepper
a drizzle of toasted sesame oil

Mix it all together until the salt and sugar are dissolved.  Dress the salad with it.

Peanut Sauce for Noodle Salad

4 tablespoons (cucchiai) peanut butter
same of cold water
1 tablespoon (cucchiaio) soy sauce
1 teaspoon (cucchiaino) chili oil
1 crushed and chopped clove of garlic

Mix all that thoroughly.  It’s enough for two servings or 2 salads

The Salad
For the purposes of this salad, we shall say that ¼ cup is about an espresso cup not quite filled.

2 ounces (30 g) glass noodles, rice noodles or bean thread noodles
about ¼ cup shredded cucumber, carrot and scallion
any other crisp vegetable of the season, also shredded or sliced very thin
about ¼ cup chopped peanuts
optional: about 1 ounce or 30 g of leftover slices of meat or chicken

The garnishes in stripes, I like

Put the noodles into a pot and cover them with hot water from the faucet.  Let them soak from 10-20 minutes.  Lift them out into a bowl and dump out that water, then refill the pan with fresh water.  Put it on a high flame and bring to a boil.  Toss in some salt and then the soaked noodles.  Cook for a minute or less, then drain into a fine sieve.

Put the cooked noodles into a bowl at least twice as big as the noodles.  Add the sauce you’re using.  Toss around until well mixed.  Arrange the garnishes on top of the noodles, peanuts last.  Serve.

**Yesterday I made the same thing using rice sticks, which are much bigger.  They take a bit longer to cook, but they have the advantage of not going too soft if you don’t get them off the flame immediately when they are done like the tiny threadlike ones do.  They are messier to eat, although not as bad as bucatini, so bucatini are still my beloved pasta for slurping.  I left the fish sauce out to see how it would be for eg, who is very allergic to fishy things.  It was OK, but better after I dripped in a bit of chili oil and sesame oil.

The bowl should be big enough to allow the diner to toss the garnishes into the noodles without making a mess.  And with that thought, I am sending this to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted next Friday by “More than Words”, which title I quite like.  It reminds me of Think On It.

I know there must be a gazillion variations on this and all of its parts.  I am willing to hear them all.  Bring them on!  Let’s help the youth of America eat up their scallions.