Cold Sesame Noodles with Mustard Greens

Well, so much for Spring. It rained and rained and stormed as was cold, then rained some more. And that was just a week or so ago.

Today it was 95*.

So, in a quick span of 2 weeks’ time, I’ve gone from making fortifying and warming soups to cold noodles.  Schizo!

On Wednesdays in downtown Sacramento, there is a farmer’s market at Cesar Chavez Plaza.  While I don’t get there often because of work constraints, my lovely spouse does, because he works nearby. Lucky for me, I saw (via social media crack) that he was there and I could ask him to find a few things for me to make dinner with.  This is sometimes a fun way to figure out dinner–he gets ingredients and I figure out what to do with them.  Our own wacky version of Iron Chef.  More like farmer’s market roulette.  Except no one dies.

At the farmer’s market, Hubby ended up with mustard greens and a some fruit.  He also went by the Chinese noodle shop on 10th Street and bought 2 big bags of these noodles.  The photo above is only one bag and it fed 5 people, with enough for my kid to have leftovers for lunch, and it cost something outrageous like a dollar or two.

I just mixed a bunch of my favorite condiments together to come up with a dressing of sorts.

As with any quick-cooking dish, you’ll be better off if you prep all the veggies and stuff ahead of time–then you can just toss it all together at the last minute.

A dish like this is pretty much what I crave when the weather is really hot.  It’s filling, yet cool and refreshing.

Is it 95* where you live?  I think you should try this, even if it’s only 80*.

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Cold Sesame Noodles with Mustard Greens

2 lbs Chinese noodles, such as chow mein, usually found in the produce section (you can use vermicelli if you don’t have a resource for Chinese noodles)
1 bunch mustard greens, trimmed and sliced into ribbons
3 carrots, sliced thinly on the bias
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
6 green onions, sliced thinly on the bias
1 cooked chicken breast, sliced into small pieces (about 1-1/2 cups)
5 Tbsp grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sambal Olek
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

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Mix together the dressing ingredients (grapeseed oil through peanut butter) and set aside.

Put on a large pot of water to boil.

In the meantime, heat a skillet over high heat. Saute the yellow onion and carrot together just until it begins to soften. Add the mustard greens and season with salt. Cook until the greens are wilted and cooked through. Add most of the green onions, reserving a few for garnish. Turn off the heat and let cool.

When the water boils, add the noodles and cook for just a few minutes until the noodles are done. Remove, drain and rinse with cold water. Toss noodles with vegetables, sliced chicken, sesame seeds and sauce. Top with the remaining green onions.

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Tagged as: Chinese cooking, noodles, Pasta, sesame