Peanut Sesame Noodles + Homemade Sriracha

Lately, I've been wanting to eat take-out Chinese food from those paper cartons.  I want to shovel food in my mouth using chopsticks, like they do in the movies when something bad happens.  I'm not saying I want something bad to happen, I just want to enjoy a lot of Chinese take-out, in my mouth, while watching Pretty Woman.  Is that okay with you?

Problem is, there is not great take-out Chinese in the Santa Monica area (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).  So I had to make my own version of Asian-style take-out, even if I was paper carton-less.  I followed this recipe for Peanut Sesame Noodles, and they were delicious!  The sauce was everything I wanted it to be - smooth, spicy, nutty with a hint of sweet.  But what made it excellent was the Homemade Sriracha I stirred it all together with.  A good friend, Marianne, makes her own and hands them out as gifts and I'm telling you, the store-bought version does not come close. She shared her recipe with us below... yay!

Homemade Sriracha

(Makes 1 jar)

Printable Recipe

Adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's My Father's Daughter

1 1/4 cups peeled garlic

1 pound red jalapeños, steamed and sliced into thin rings (seeds removed - the more seeds: the hotter the sauce)

2 1/4 cups rice vinegar

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

2 T sea salt

1 T arrowroot

1 T fish sauce (or soy sauce)

In a small sauce pan, add garlic and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and immediately drain.  Cool the garlic under running water and return it to saucepan.  Cover again with water and repeat blanching process. 

Thinly slice the blanched garlic and combine with jalapeños and vinegar in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, cook for 3 minutes and then remove from heat.  Add the brown rice syrup and salt and stir to combine.  Let the mixture sit undisturbed for 1 hour to steep and cool. 

Whiz the mixture in a powerful blender until smooth.  Return the pureed sauce to the pot, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, skimming off any foam until the sauce is slightly reduced and has some body.      

In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water.  Whisk into the simmering sauce and cool for 2 minutes more or until sauce has thickened.  

Remove the sauce from heat, let it cool slightly and stir in the fish sauce.  Store in a screw top jar in the fridge for up to 6 months. 

I chose to toss my Peanut Noodles with diced red bell pepper, cucumber, green onions, cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Olive Tapenade Spaghetti

I have been pretty creative this week when it comes to dinner.  You can send my medal via mail.  I accept cookies.  The other night, I took pasta and olive tapenade and created dinner!  Make pasta and then scoop in some olive tapenade.  Oh, and then throw in some toasted pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese.  Salty, crunchy, cheesy... again, you can give your mail carrier pigeon my award... he knows where I live.  BUT!  I'm going to bake next week.  More than once.  So stay tuned... and have a nice weekend, why don't you?!      

Balsamic Glaze

Have you guys tried Trader Joe's Balsamic Glaze?  It's stupid good, or "sick" as my 4-year-old now likes to describe happy things.  Deep in flavor, not overly sweet or vinegar-y, and a perfectly thick consistency.  I use it as dressing ALL the time.  Just drizzle it over your salad with a splash of good olive oil (yup, I strive to sound like Ina) and that's all you need.  Marinate your chicken, or serve it over ice cream and fresh berries (which I have yet to do).  The other night, I used it to roast vegetables (with olive oil, salt and pepper).  It was so perfect, and much better than using watery balsamic vinegar.  

Sorry for all the iPhone photos as of late.  I lost my camera card and my to-do list says BUY ANOTHER.  My to-do list currently says 347 things.  I hate my to-do list and it's stupid face.  

Sriracha Salt

Besides the fact that I don't really know how to say "Sriracha" - I'm obsessed with it.  Now, just yesterday, a friend gifted me a bottle of homemade Sriracha Salt.  WHAT!?!?!?  That was my reaction. Just the smell of it made me do a happy dance in my kitchen (no really, there's evidence of said dance on my iPhone).  She used this recipe, which looks simple enough!  If you're a fan of the spicy condiment, you should probably make a big batch of this salt and put it on everything.  I sprinkled it on my salad last night, DELISH.  Can you imagine a margarita with this stuff rimming the glass?!?  I feel another happy dance coming on... I've gotta go.  

Thank you for the feedback on my new site design!  I'm sort of sick of the "label" section (do you use it?) and I'm trying to brainstorm some new organizational elements.  Ideas are welcome : )    

Tomato Paste 101

I learned an interesting thing in this month's Bon Appetit magazine.  Would you like to learn it with me? Let's learn together!  (I'm a Room Mom at my son's preschool, and learning is F U N!)

Many recipes call for tomato paste, and we throw it in without giving it much thought.  But BA told me that if you let it cook in a little light oil for a few minutes, until it caramelizes in color, it will develop its flavor and add richness to whatever you're cooking.  In fact, you can take a whole can (or tube) of paste, cook the entire thing, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then you'll have one ready the next time you're making sauce!  Neato!  We learned a thing!   

Tomato Butter

Remember when I told you I planted some tomatoes using a plastic toy shovel?  I had no idea what I was doing, which is apparent because now my rosemary is buried underneath the tomatoes.  Who knew tomato plants got to be so big??  Oh you did?  Show off.  And guess what??  Three are growing!  Three!  I gardened!  I am a harvester, a farmer, Siri Plain and Tall!  

Anyway, have you found yourself with a surplus of tomatoes lately?  If you garden, I'm sure you have.  Or maybe you can't stop buying them at the market because of how fresh and juicy they look.  I was very excited to see that Bon Appetit devoted a whole section to tomato recipes this month, one of the easier ones being this Tomato Butter.  Broil, puree, stir - it's as simple as that.  Keep it in your fridge for pastas or sandwiches or steaks.       

Also perfect for smothering over grilled fish...