Noodles with Ginger Cilantro Sauce

Being a sucker for noodle dishes with Asian flavors and an enthusiast of pesto-type sauces laced with fresh herbs, I was obligated at my core to make this dish. The freshest cilantro is everywhere right now (even if my planting isn’t quite mature enough to be used yet), and I had a big chile pepper ready to be picked in my back yard (the first true fruit of my gardening labors!). It’s not often when so much comes together in my favor, and, for once, I failed to squander the opportunity.

Which is great, because these noodles are truly delicious! They’re cooled after cooking and then start their flavor journey by being tossed with some sesame oil. The sauce is a puree of mostly cilantro and ginger, enhanced by vinegar, chile, soy sauce, tahini, and more sesame oil. There’s a lot of big flavor together, but it manages to be zesty, and perhaps slightly and pleasantly bitter, without being fiery or overwhelming. That being said, if you want to punch up a particular favorite flavor, there’s room to do so. (I was thinking of making them with this infused sesame oil next.)

In addition to plenty of farmer’s market cilantro, I also had a pretty bunch of green onions, so I finely chopped those and added them to my noodles, too. I think this could be an exciting dish if the sauce was doubled and lots of other seasonal vegetables were added: I’m thinking matchstick radishes and cucumbers, and/or finely chopped snap peas and green beans. And don’t forget shredded cabbage and carrots, and finely chopped broccoli. Maybe we’ll need to triple the sauce batch?

I served this as a main-dish salad, but you could also offer it as a side with some grilled chicken or tofu, perhaps made with this Chinese Style Barbecue Sauce and Marinade. I’d even put it on a summer buffet table next to barbecue beans and potato salad.

 

Well, really, I’d eat it anywhere and any-when. And these seasonal ingredients keep coming to the market and to my garden, so all will be right with the world …of noodles.

Sesame Noodles with Ginger Cilantro Sauce

Based on a recipe from The Bon Appetit Cookbook

If you find the sauce to be too thick, you can thin it with water, or chicken or vegetable broth. I did not find a need for this addition.

8 ounces dry long pasta, such as linguine, or rice noodles

2 ½ tablespoons peeled, chopped fresh ginger

1 small chile pepper (or half of a large one), seeds removed if desired, coarsely chopped

1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems

1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon tahini

3 tablespoons sesame oil, divided

Water or broth to thin sauce as needed

½ cup finely chopped green onions (scallions)

1. Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until done the way you like to eat them. (I like mine a bit softer than al dente.) Drain. Rinse with cold water until completely cooled. Drain well.

2. Combine the ginger and chile in the bowl of a food processor. Process to a coarse paste. Add the cilantro, soy sauce, rice vinegar, tahini, and 2 tablespoons sesame oil. Process until almost smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add some water or broth if the sauce seems too thick.

3. Toss the noodles with the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Add the green onions and pour over the sauce. Toss to coat well. You can also add some water or broth at this stage if the sauce seems to thick. Adjust the seasonings, to taste. Serve at room temperature or cool.

Makes about 4 side-dish servings, or 2 big main-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Noodles with Cilantro, Green Onions, and Peanuts; Sesame Noodle Salad; Peanutty Noodles; Thai Peanut Curry Noodles; Warm Noodles with Cilantro and Coconut Lime Dressing

One year ago: Radish Cilantro Salsa

Radish Cilantro Salsa

 

I wanted to make this chunky salsa back when radishes were new in the market. They start appearing when it’s still too cold to even think of summer vegetables, so they’re exciting. Of course, I didn’t have enough, or perhaps any, cilantro growing in my patio herb garden yet, so I decided to wait. Luckily, now that I have buckets of cilantro, a second crop of radishes, and even a lot of daikon radishes are in the farmer’s market, so it was a good time to try this out.

This condiment/snack has the potential to be rather assertive, what with all the radishes involved, but I found they were well tamed by lots of cilantro, some green onions, a dab of honey, and lime. I used both red radishes and daikon, and it does take some time to dice them small enough to make something spoonable or scoopable. I found it was worth the effort, though, for the zesty crunchy salsa that results.

 

So far, I’ve just been eating this stuff with chips, but I think it would be great served anywhere you like a chunky salsa or pico de gallo, like on this tostada, in any taco, or on a plate of nachos. It might also be good tossed with salad greens, or noodles. My first batch won’t last long enough to try most of those ideas, of course. I’ll have to keep making it (along with this similar recipe) to perk up simple dishes all summer long.

Radish Cilantro Salsa

Based on a recipe in Naturally Nourished by Sarah Britton

1 ½ cups finely diced radishes, any variety

½ cup finely chopped green onion

½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh chile pepper

Zest and juice of 1 lime, plus more juice to taste

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium-size bowl and toss well to coat. Taste for salt and acid, and add more salt or lime juice as needed. Serve as you would pico de gallo or salsa.

Makes about 2 cups.

Other recipes like this one: Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint, Tomato and Cucumber Pico d Gallo

Cilantro Mint Pesto

Ah, the laziness of summer. We can just wander out to the garden, gather a few fresh and abundant herbs, boil some water, push some buttons, and make a fabulously savory and satisfying dish. Really, that’s barely an exaggeration when this perky pesto made from the cilantro and mint I have growing in the back yard is involved.

This pesto is from a recipe I used to make ages ago that I got from CookingLight Magazine. That publication provided most of my lesson plans back then as I was teaching myself to cook. The ingredients and dishes are interesting, and the recipes are well-written, and I used to follow them exactly. This pesto was part of a recipe with penne pasta, chicken, and cherry tomatoes, and when I recorded it as a good one, I recorded that whole dish.

I hadn’t made this pesto in forever, though not for any reason I can possibly fathom. I’ve had an unreasonably huge patch of mint for years, and cilantro is easy to come by, especially right now in my garden. No excuses this year. And after being reminded of just how delicious this really is, no clue about why I’ve been the kind of lazy dunderhead who isn’t making this all the time.

The cilantro and mint form a curious combination that isn’t dominated by either herb. The savory cilantro, one of my favorite things ever, just gets a bit of a blanket of minty vapor that makes it even better. Overall, the duo is a wonderful blend, savory and verdant, fragrant and lip-smackingly delicious.

That herbal powerhouse is even further enhanced by a punch of heat from a chile pepper (your choice of variety, or leave it out if you don’t like the spicy), and some mellow acidity from a splash of sherry vinegar. Like other herb pestos, this one gets a foundation of nuts (pecans), Parmesan cheese and good olive oil. There’s plenty of salt as well, which I like, but if you’re salt-sensitive, you could hold some back.

You could toss this pesto with pasta and cherry tomatoes, like I did recently, or you could add cooked chicken, like in the inspiration dish I mentioned above. I also think you could add roasted peppers, olives, black beans, or corn. This pesto could be used as a sauce on a rustic pizza or a thin layer could accompany the cheese in a quesadilla. You could also play around with the ratios of the herbs and chiles. I know I will, now that I’m totally unafraid to deviate from even a well-written recipe. Especially in these relaxed days of summer when I’m too lazy to even make proper measurements!

Spicy Cilantro Mint Pesto

Based on a recipe in Cooking Light, Jan/Feb 2005

1 ½ cups fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

½ cup mint

1/3 Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated

¼ cup toasted pecans, chopped

1 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt

2 medium-size garlic cloves, chopped

1 medium-size chile pepper, chopped

2 tsp sherry vinegar

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ olive oil

1. Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture is a well-ground paste, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.

2. While processing, slowly add the olive oil through the opening in the top of the processor lid. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Adjust seasonings if needed.

Makes about 1 cup pesto.

Other recipes like this one: Basic Basil Pesto, Arugula Pesto with Kalamata Olives, Parsley Hazelnut Pesto, Radish Leaf and Peanut Pesto, Spinach Chive Pesto

One year ago: Pasta with Snap Peas, Sage, and Breadcrumbs