Re-Purposing

Don’t get me wrong. I love green salads, especially when I can get locally-grown lettuces that weren’t trucked, shipped or flown in from the Emerald City or some other faraway place where things are always green. It’s just that I know there are a lot of those salads in my not-too-distant future. I don’t want to overdose before I even get there.

And, so, I did something else with my leftover Coconut Lime Dressing. It doesn’t take much to imagine a salad dressing as a sauce for your greens and therefore a good candidate for saucing other things. Like warm noodles.

Oh, did this lunch make me happy! I cooked some spaghetti, tossed it with cilantro, scallions, a little chile pepper and sunflower seeds. The Coconut Lime Dressing was a perfect partner to these ingredients. In fact, I think I liked it even more in this dish than I did on a salad. The heat from the noodles allowed some lime and herb aroma to perfume the whole experience. I love cilantro, so its inclusion was a given and the chile pepper gave it all a great punch of spice. And there’s something almost magical about the combination of roasted, salted sunflower seeds and this Coconut Lime Dressing. (I’d bet peanuts would be good, too.)

When I finished preparing this dish, which I had intended to be lunch just for me, I thought it looked like an awfully big single serving. In the interest of full disclosure, I, erm, ate the whole thing. Also, since I’m nearly hopeless with chopsticks and this was somewhat of a “working lunch,” I gave them up early and ate my noodles and re-purposed dressing with a trusty, multi-purpose fork.

Warm Noodles with Cilantro and Coconut Lime Dressing

¼ pound dry spaghetti or other long noodles
salt (for boiling noodles)
½ cup chopped cilantro
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 small chile pepper (or ½ larger pepper), seeded and cut into thin strips
2-3 tablespoons roasted salted sunflower seeds
¼ cup Coconut Lime Dressing

1. Cook the spaghetti or other noodles in boiling salted water until they reach desired tenderness. I like them softer than al dente for this dish. Drain the noodles and return them to the pan off the heat.

2. Add the cilantro, scallions, chile pepper and sunflower seeds and toss together. Add the Coconut Lime Dressing and toss well to coat.

Makes 1-2 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Noodles with Cilantro, Green Onions and Peanuts; Noodle Bowl with Spicy Greens

One year ago: Lentil Barley Burgers

Two years ago: Penne with Chicken Sausage, Olives and Walnut Sauce