Peanut Sauce, So yummy with Chicken as a salad

Annika and I made dinner tonight! It was so yummy I so wish I could have taken a picture of this yummy Dinner...

What we did to make the salad amazing!

• Spinach as Salad
• Tomato
• Coconut flakes
• Chicken grilled
• Sauce alllll over!!! and Enjoy the amazing!!!

Using only five ingredients, this quick and easy peanut sauce recipe is a great choice for nights when you don't have time to chop fresh herbs or crush peanuts.

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 2 1/2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons white granulated sugar

Preparation:

Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Note:For best results, refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. Before serving, thin the sauce with a bit more warm water if needed. Use the peanut sauce within 3 - 4 days.

cabbage and lime salad with roasted peanuts

I know that on the surface, peering in from your side of the computer screen, this looks like a pile of shredded cabbage, a poorly lit one (look, it was late, okay?). But from my site, from my seat right here, this is pretty much the best thing ever, a yearly event I like to call First Slaw of the Season.

Yes, friends, rooftop grilling season is back (or it was, er, briefly last Saturday afternoon but not really by Saturday evening, when we shivered around the actual grill; details) and I could not possibly be more excited. That means summer is coming. That means Jacob and I get to go to barbecues as separate human beings this summer (aw). That means that this one, the adult one, gets to have a beer (yay).


And I know this is old news to some of you, but still, I must underscore again: We are slaw people. We really, really love our summer slaws. Not Your Mama’s Cole Slaw, Dead Simple Slaws, Green Onion Slaw, Tartar Sauce Slaw, slaw on tacos, Broccoli Slaw and Salads That Are Distinctly Slaw-Like. I even wrote an article about my slaw devotion. And then had a baby that looks like a cabbage (patch kid). I need help, I know.

I also have a serious thing for the Lee Bros., those Charleston guys that got stranded for a few years on the lonely island of Manhattan and were forced to sell boiled peanuts and other wonders to their fellow displaced Southerners to stay warm. Okay, perhaps that’s a wee bit of a dramatic retelling but I do get carried away when I see their approach to cooking. And that they have a new cookbook out. I flipped it open in Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago and it landed on this page, exactly, with the prettiest peanut-ed slaw I’ve ever seen and literally, on the basis of that photo alone (see above: unhealthily obsessed with slaw), I bought the book. It was when I got home that I saw the pudding cakes and pudding parfaits and the, look, I just said pudding twice. How could you need to hear anything else before falling in love with this book?

Cabbage and Lime Salad with Roasted Peanuts
Adapted from the Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern
Right, so, about the slaw: Lime. Peanuts. Red and green cabbage. Slivers of spinach. The lime is awesome, although I really have to advise against the whole lime segments they suggest in the original recipe (which I omit here) as we lovelovelove lime around here and it was still too much lime, by far. Peanuts are wonderful, even better if you can find some of those giant Virginia peanuts I sometimes see at stores (these, sadly, were not). The spinach is definitely a little odd in the slaw department; it is not the most stable lettuce thus not the kind of thing I’d want to eat hours after it had been tossed with dressing but in this, it works. And it makes the salad even prettier, which in my book counts too.
1/2 small red cabbage, trimmed, cored, and shredded (about 6 cups)
1/2 small green cabbage, trimmed, cored, and shredded (about 6 cups)
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 bunch fresh baby spinach, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch wide ribbons (about 4 cups loosely packed)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 2 small limes)
1 tablespoon Dijon or other salty prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large bowl, toss the shredded red and green cabbage with the salt. Transfer the cabbage to a colander and let it drain for two hours. (I was in a rush and did this in one. It was still nicely wilted, but of course could have been even softer.)
If you’re worried about the cabbage being too salty when you’re done with the salting process, taste a piece of cabbage and if it concerns you, rinse and drain the cabbage well. This is not a suggestion in the original recipe, but something I suspect might bother some people.
Put the salted, drained cabbage back into your (rinsed and dried) large bowl and add the spinach. In a medium bowl, whisk the lime juice, mustard and cumin together. Add the peanut oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly until the ingredients are thoroughly emulsified. Toss the salad with the dressing and add the roasted peanuts. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
This salad is best served immediately, but it does keep surprisingly well in the fridge for a day or two.

Asian Style Beans

Where to Find it: Kayotic Kitchens

Green beans, snap beans, string beans, French beans, whatever you want to call them, they’re in season, they’re cheap, tasty and healthy. Go for it!
We’re very high on vegetables here. We easily eat 10 oz a day (per person), so I’m always trying various ways to prepare vegetables making them slightly different every time we eat them. These have a little Asian twist to them and rank high on the ‘yummy delicious’ list here (‘yummy delicious’ being the English expression for my Dutch 2 year olds favorite foods, thanks to Dora).
For some reason the combination pine nuts & green beans works beautifully in this side dish.

Ingredients:
String beans
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
Garlic (I used 1 clove, grated)
Ginger (thumb sized piece, grated)
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 dsp chili sauce
Chili powder
Handful pine nuts
Oil
Directions:
Coarsely chop the bell pepper and the onion. Trim the beans and break the long ones in half. Give them a good wash.

Parboil the beans in lightly salted water. I like a little bite to them, so I boiled them for about 13 minutes. You can give them a few minutes longer if you like, just don’t over-cook them!

Grate the ginger and garlic. I keep lots of ginger in the freezer, this way I always have some on hand. It works great! The flavor seems to intensify once frozen, so you even need less to get the same result. It’s also easier to peel and grate when still slightly frozen. Nothing but benefits!

Use vegetable oil rather than olive oil because you can use higher temperatures that way, which is much better for stir-frying. I use this oil – it’s an oil that has a slightly Asian flavor to it already. Seems they infused it with garlic, fenugreek, cardamom, cumin, celery, turmeric, coriander etc resulting in an amazingly fragrant oil.

Sautee the bell pepper for about a minute or two, then add the onion. Add the ginger and garlic as soon as the onion turns slightly translucent, not before or you’ll burn the garlic. Don’t let the onions brown, it just doesn’t look good in this dish.

In the mean time the beans will be ready. Drain them and quickly rinse them with cold water – this will stop the cooking process, leaving your beans fresh and green rather than all sad, shriveled up and brown.

Add a pinch of chili powder to the onion mixture. I use incredibly hot chili powder, no clue where they got those chilies from, and have a toddler eating this as well, so I only use a pinch (literally, see?) but feel free to use more. I always sautee my spices for a minute or so, it really gets the flavor going.

Add the beans to the bell pepper/onions and give them a good swirl. Add a tbsp soy sauce. I used sweet soy sauce, but you can also add regular soy sauce and add some additional sugar. Is this a Dutch cooking products 101 or what?

Add a heaping dinnerspoon chili sauce. You don’t want to drown the beans, you just want to coat them. It gives them a real pretty shine. Hey, I’m a girl, I’m all about the bling-bling. Let it all simmer for a few minutes now so the flavors can incorporate.

Toast the pine nuts in a hot skillet. Roughly 30 seconds should do, then shove them around a bit. Give them another 30 seconds and they’re done.

Serve the beans on a pretty platter, sprinkle some of the pine nuts on top and serve with a little extra soy sauce on the side. If you, unlike me, happen to like Coriander, this would be your cue to use it. I can’t stand the smell or taste of coriander, so I don’t even want to use it as garnish.


These taste absolutely great with steamed rice and stir fried chicken or beef strips!