Peanut Noodle Salad

This recipe is inspired by my favorite dish at The Fresh Side in Amherst, MA, which I never seem to get to anymore. I always got it with their amazing bean curd, but since I have no idea how to make that, I used leftover chicken I made in the crock pot yesterday.

This is a good one for using up veggies you bought on a whim, or frozen veg that never seems to get finished. You can use whatever you want, the following is what I had in the house.....

Peanut Noodle Salad is also my first attempt at a gluten free meal. As far as I know, there is no gluten in this dish.



package of vermicelli rice noodles
a head of lettuce, washed and chopped
juice of a lime
a couple glugs of soy sauce to taste (just bought a gluten free variety to be sure)
a big spoonful of peanut butter
roasted red pepper sliced
3 scallions chopped and whites separated from green tops
a large carrot sliced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
a big handful of fresh parsley chopped
a handful of peanuts roughly chopped
a cup of leftover chicken, cut up as desired

Start by cooking the noodles according to package directions. Mine only needed to be boiled for 3 minutes. Save a mug of the noodle water for loosening later.

While the water is coming to a boil, prepare your peanut sauce by adding peanut butter, juice of half the lime, garlic, and soy sauce to a small sauce pan on low heat. Add a little water to thin out the sauce. Once combined and warmed through, you can turn off the heat.

Heat a large pan or wok over medium high heat and add some vegetable oil to cook the whites of scallions and carrots. When they soften after a couple minutes, add roasted red pepper to heat through. Remove from heat and add drained noodles and peanut sauce and mix to combine everything together. You will probably have to add some of your reserved noodle water to get everything combined. The rice noodles tend to be sticky otherwise.

To finish, put a bed of lettuce in a big bowl and top with noodle mixture and the chicken. Garnish with parsley, greens of scallions, and peanuts. Squeeze juice of the other half of lime over the top.

Enjoy!!!