Ina's Szechuan Noodles with Snap Peas

Another meatless Monday means attempting to come up with a tasty meal to make us forget that it is indeed meatless!  This time Nick was in charge and he naturally went to Ina Garten for help and found Szechuan Noodles.  Sounding delicious, he went for it.  It involved a lot of ingredients but luckily we had a lot of them on hand, and the recipe couldn't have been easier to pull together.

The Necessities....

• 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 - since I hate peppers Nick swapped this one out for peas
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 4 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)

The Ingredients

First Nick went ahead and chopped the garlic and the ginger...

Garlic and Ginger

and placed the chopped bits in the food processor.

Ginger and Garlic

At that point Nick added the vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sherry vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, and ground peppers.

Saucy Stuff

With all of that in the food processor he pureed it until it was an even consistency throughout.  Meanwhile, in a large pot Nick brought salted water to a boil and added a splash of oil and cooked the pasta al dente.  At the last moment he popped the peas in to cook for a minute.

Pasta and Peas

Once all cooked, he drained the pot and tossed the pasta with the sauce from the food processor.

Pepper and Scallions

Nick then cut the scallions and the yellow pepper and threw them into the bowl, tossing it altogether.  A few sesame seeds on top and we were ready to eat!

Dinner is served!

This dish came together really well.  The sauce was tasty and had a lot of flavor.  Given all the ingredients it actually was not too time consuming or difficult to pull together for a weeknight since a lot of it was done in the food processor - Nick is also way faster a cooking that I am!