Cold Korean Kimchi Noodles

On Monday night, I was excited to head to the gym after work.  After a week's worth of indulgences on vacation, I wanted to get in a long workout to help get myself back on track.  On my walk to the gym from my office, I pass by the Government Center Farmers Market and there was no way that I couldn't stop to peruse.  I picked up my first cherries of the season from Keown Farm.  Aren't they gorgeous?

After a long workout, I wasn't feeling up to cooking anything too difficult so I decided to make one of my favorite Korean dishes - cold kimchi noodles.  My mom used to make this dish every once in awhile and I always looked forward to when she made this for us.  Looking back, I think she also made this when she had lots of extra kimchi around and didn't feel much like cooking but it tasted so good to me that I always saw it as a special treat instead!

To start, I put some water on boil and added some whole grain spaghetti to the mix.  Traditionally you would use thin Korean rice noodles but I figured that spaghetti would be just fine.

While the water was boiling, I got to work on cutting up some kimchi.

I wish I could say that I make my own kimchi but I simply don't have the refrigerator space to store the kimchi so I just take a bottle (or two) from my mom.

When the water had boiled and after the spaghetti was done cooking, I rinsed the pasta under cold water to get the noodles to a cold temperature.  I placed the noodles in a bowl with the sliced kimchi and kimchi juice, along with a few spoonfuls of sugar, a heavy dash of sesame seeds and a gentle drizzle of roasted sesame seed oil.  I know this sounds vague in measurement but I learned to make this dish from my mother, which means I rely less on measurements and more on taste, color and flavor.

I tossed the ingredients together and put the bowl in the refrigerator to let the noodles really soak in the flavor.  Since we didn't want to just eat noodles alone, we made a quick side of Trader Joe's frozen pork dumplings.  I love having these dumplings in my freezer because they are so tasty and a quick go-to when I'm feeling lazy.

When we served the noodles, they were absolutely perfect and could rival my mother's.  The noodles were cold and you got flavors of spiciness from the kimchi, sweetness from the sugar and a tad bit of saltiness from the roasted sesame seed oil.  I also loved the crunch from the sliced kimchi.

And doesn't this dish look absolutely colorful? I love quick and easy dishes, especially ones that I learned from my mom.

What is your favorite easy recipe passed down from a family member?