Friday, September 3, 2010

Sesame Overload

For some reason, I have been eating less meat. I never thought I'd feel this way, but I am happy with small doses here and there. I always found it kind of annoying when people (usually very thin women) would say, "I just don't like meat". It's very possible that I'm just enjoying lighter fare because of the summer weather and over-abundance of fresh produce. With the exception of my husband, the rest of our family enjoys mostly meatless meals (nice alliteration, huh?). For the purpose of this post, I'm operating on the supposition that fish is not technically meat.

When I'm craving a light meal I tend to gravitate towards asian-flavored foods. Ever since I made this delicious cucumber salad, we've been enjoying it at least twice a week. It's so easy to make a few minutes before the rest of our dinner is ready and it's light, crunchy, and healthy. A few weeks ago I made salmon - my gang likes it with brown sugar on top, go figure. I also decided to go all the way and make an asian udon noodle salad.


I adapted the Pioneer Woman's recipe for sesame noodles. Even though each part of our dinner was full of similar flavors, it was really delicious - and didn't taste redundant. The result was a perfect summer meal. The combination of flavors were very balanced - sweet, salty, sour, and spicy.



Sesame Noodles
* 12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
* ¼ cups Soy Sauce
* 2 Tablespoons Sugar
* 2 tsp garlic powder
* 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
* 3 Tablespoons Pure "hot" sesame oil
* 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
* 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
* 4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Preparation Instructions

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.
I also added sauteed cabbage, toasted sesame seeds, and fresh chives.

Brown-Sugar Salmon
fresh salmon fillet
sesame seeds
soy sauce
brown sugar
fresh chives

Place salmon onto an aluminum-lined cookie sheet. Pour soy sauce over fillet. Sprinkle sesame seeds over salmon. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle brown sugar and chives over salmon. Finish baking for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the brown sugar is crunchy, the sesame seeds are golden brown, and the salmon is cooked fully.

5 comments:

  1. This looks INSANELY good. I too have been eating little to no meat lately. Not really sure why but I too think it's because I have so much yummy produce in my fridge that I haven't even desired meatier fare. I have been loving butternut squash (still can't find spaghetti!), hot garden peppers, fresh tomatoes, basil, bean soups, and freshly ground peanut butter from the Farmer's Market. I love the fall harvest! Looking forward to blogging more myself as the cooler weather sets in- and reading more of your posts!

    Ab

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  2. Massive meat eater here. Although I do like fish ...a lot...and havent ever tried it with brown sugar. I tend to think I'm being creative if I throw a squeeze of lemon on top ....

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  3. That sounds delicious, my teen loves salmon, so I'm going to try this one, and as it's warming up here the noodles and cucumber salad will be a nice addition

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  4. Kirs-the salmon looks great-never had it with brown sugar, tho! Will have to give it a try. We've kinda switched from salman to talipia. Less expensive & lighter than salmon. We get either/both from Sam's Club (like your Cosco) frozen individual packets (about 10 servings per bag). I just bake the talipia in a sprayed foil lined glass pan-sprinkle with dill & lemon pepper-15 minutes & it's done-can also top with a tablespoon or so of Ragu Parm Cheese Alfredo sauce prior to baking-that's our favorite-served on a bed of flavored rice-makin' me hungry!!
    Aunt Jean

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  5. Mrs P - we love massive meat eaters, here..I think I'm just going through a phase :)

    Marg - let me know what you think of it!

    Abbie - your farmers market finds sound amazing - I envy your peanut butter. Not to rub it in, but we had local spaghetti squash this weekend :(

    Jean - thanks for the tip on the tilapia! I never know how to make it taste flavorful. I think the alfredo sauce would do the trick!

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