Peanut spinach noodles

I think the last time my sister visited she requested peanut noodles with spinach.  I found this recipe, and she vetoed it upon discovering the spinach was blended into the sauce.  I love a good spinach salad, more than most other greens, but I got a LOT of spinach - I wish I would've weighed it - and had consumed 2 whole heads of lettuce by Monday afternoon, so Monday evening I was in the mood for a slight change from eating raw vegetables.  Although now that I think about it, this spinach is never actually cooked.  Plus it's an excellent way to get my spinach without having to actually eat raw spinach.  I'm kind of in love with the idea.

The other thing I really love about this is that regular peanut sauce tends to be really heavy, no matter how much you thin it out.  This might barely qualify as a peanut sauce, since it's peanut flavor is subtle (the sesame and ginger come through just as strong, if not stronger) but it is much lighter and I feel better after eating it than I do after eating a heavy nut sauce.  Regardless, this is delicious.

Here is the recipe:

noodles:

1 pkg Soba noodles

2 T sesame oil

sauce:

3 c spinach, well packed

1/3 c smooth peanut butter (the ingredients of your peanut butter should be peanuts and salt.)

3 T soy sauce

1 T rice vinegar

1/2 t hot pepper flakes

1 T fresh grated ginger

1/3 c hot water

garnish:

1/2 c chopped green onions

Peanut Oil (I used the oil from the top of the peanut butter jar, which seemed like a good idea at the time, although maybe it wasn't, although it turned out okay.

Cook noodles according to package instructions, and then add sesame oil and set aside.

Meanwhile put the peanut sauce ingredients in the food processor.  I had the peanut butter underneath the spinach, but I recommend putting in the spinach first, and then adding the peanut butter.  When I was scraping out my sauce, I discovered some peanut butter that hadn't gotten blended in.

Heat the peanut oil in a cast iron skillet until almost smoking, throw in the green onions and cook, tossing, for about two minutes.  Drain on paper towel.

I ate this dish relatively cold - probably around room temperature - for dinner last night, and I also ate it cold for lunch because I was too lazy to travel to the kitchen to heat up my noodles, but I think it's probably good either way.

Summer Farm Share: Week One: Farm Share is Back!

My old farmshare was cancelled at the last minute, leaving me to scramble for a new one.  I made a quick decision and felt some remorse - do I really want a full share (3/4 bushel)?  Do I really want a Saturday pick-up date?  Why did I choose an Illinois farm instead of Wisconsin?  What if I want to eat something that I didn't cook myself but I can't because I have too many vegetables?  But today I picked up my share and it's amazing.  No regrets.  (I wasn't sure I'd get one at all this week - I got two e-mails from the farm - one told me it wouldn't start until next week, and one said I had a share today, so I stopped by and was delighted to find my name on the list.)

This week's haul, and the plan to conquer each vegetable:
broccoli - tried to eat it raw but it was bitter, steamed it and ate with sesame ginger dressing (you see it pictured in the salad below, but I took it out after I tried it.  it was much better steamed.)
zucchini - sliced and grilled and then threw it on a salad (pictured below)
kale - potato kale soup
spinach - noodles with peanut sauce
2 heads of lettuce - consumed by Monday afternoon.  I impressed myself.
tatsoi - this will likely be the last thing I take on. I'm evaluating recipes, they all seem to be warm salads (although some are then chilled) to wilt it a bit.  I suppose since I ate all my salad greens already, by the end of the week I might want more salads.
beets with greens - risotto!
basil - pesto (yum) which is mostly gone
dill - some in the potato kale soup, and the rest on salads.
scallions - some went in salads, some went in other things.