Szechuan Noodles

Szechuan Noodles
Recipe Type: Entree
Author: Ina Garten
Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
  • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup good soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry
  • 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil
  • 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • 1 red bell pepper, julienned
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
  • 4 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)
Instructions
  1. Place the garlic and ginger in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
  2. Add the vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sherry vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, and ground peppers.
  3. Puree the sauce.
  4. Add a splash of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook the spaghetti al dente.
  5. Drain the pasta in a colander, place it in a large bowl, and while still warm, toss with 3/4 of the sauce.
  6. Add the red and yellow bell peppers and scallions; toss well.
  7. Serve warm or at room temperature. The remaining sauce may be added, as needed, to moisten the pasta.

We first had this meal with Tom and Maureen Chapman at the end of March 2012. It was Maureen’s pick for a non-meat Friday meal, and it was phenomenally tasty with some dried wide pasta noodles that she brought back from Italy. Their thickness was the key to retaining a healthy amount of the delicious sauce on each bite. The recipe calls for spaghetti, but to me a good papardelle would be better.

 

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