We were experiencing a rather grotesque week of heat and humidity here in the City... Upper 90s in the day and virtually no cool-down at night. And the humidity was rainforest-like.
Ergo, Charlie requested cold Asian noodles.
Perfect!
And I somehow got it in my head that he meant elaborate Japanese udon noodles in cold broth, etc., and hey, I’m up for a challenge...
But then, when we got home and started to talk, I realized he meant our longstanding go-to spicy peanut noodles. I was so relieved that I realized just how much the awful weather had taken out of me!
So, with gratitude:
I boiled some linguini and did the unthinkable... I rinsed it in cold water. Trust me, it works for this.
In the food processor, I blitzed some minced ginger, smashed garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, a tiny bit of white wine to loosen the whole mess, and some Momofuku Ssäm sauce I had from the test kitchen. This went into a bowl with a minced, blisteringly hot dragon cayenne and the white parts of 5 scallions, sliced very thin.
Then, in went the pasta... and a bit of the cooled pasta water I’d saved for a bit more loosening. I tossed it until every noodle was coated. Then into the fridge to await service.
When we were ready (read: able to move to the dining room)... I chilled some nice bowls, got out the good chopsticks, twirled the noodles into bowls... topped with the remaining scallion greens...
We had a truly lovely sweat-inducing, cooling dinner. OK, not for the faint of heart, but...
Believe me, these noodles are just as good - no, really! - for the next few days.
Happy sweating!!!