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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Asian Noodle Salad

How much do you like leftovers? Hopefully a LOT because you'll be eating this Asian Noodle Salad for days! That was actually my plan when I made it. I was set to leave town on business for a week and though Ryan never asks me to make anything for him, I knew his busy schedule meant he'd be subsisting on cereal and crackers if I didn't step in. Don't worry though, this salad is good enough that you won't mind eating it for a few days! My only complaint was that the flavor of the dressing wasn't strong enough when mixed into the salad. This may have been my fault, as I made it in the bowl of my food processor, which I rinsed out but didn't dry....so it might have been watered down. If you prefer a more heavily dressed salad, you may want to make 1.5x the dressing and add extra as needed.

This would also be great for a party, because it feeds SO many. I'm not exaggerating when I talk about the proportions here...it filled one large tupperware bowl plus one five-gallon ice cream container! I had to make a few adjustments, so I posted the original recipe below with my changes in parenthesis. If you worry people won't like the cabbage in there, I recommend shredding in a food processor. I did that and it cut the pieces so small that you couldn't really detect the flavor of them when mixed in with everything else!

Tell me, are you a leftovers fan or would you only make this if serving a crowd?

One Year Ago: Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

Asian Noodle Salad
from Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:
For the salad-
-1 package linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled (I used Barilla Plus Spaghetti)
-1/2 head sliced Napa cabbage
-1/2 head sliced purple cabbage
-1/2 bag baby spinach
-1 whole red bell pepper, thinly sliced
-1 whole yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
-1 whole orange bell pepper, thinly sliced (I substituted a green pepper)
-1 bag bean sprouts (I bought but they went bad in the 2 days between buying and using--big bummer!)
-chopped cilantro, up to 1 bunch, to taste (I used 1 bunch)
-3 whole scallions, sliced
-3 whole cucumbers, peeled and sliced (I didn't peel and sliced in half before slicing pieces)
-1 can (10 oz.) whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet (I used dry roasted peanuts and didn't toast)

For the dressing-
-1 lime, juices
-8 tbsp olive oil
-8 tbsp soy sauce
-2-3 tbsp sesame oil
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-3 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, chopped
-2 whole jalapenos, chopped
-chopped cilantro

Directions:
1. Mix salad ingredients together (you will probably need to do this in two separate LARGE bowls).
2. Whisk dressing ingredients together (I did this in my food processor) and pour over salad. Mix with tongs and chill until ready to serve.

This post is linked to Eat at Home.