A Pot Luck Dish

The question of what to take to a pot luck is always a challenge. You don't want to be one of seven. You don't want something that no one will eat. You DO want to make something a little bit different. You DO want to take something that can sit out a bit without having to worry about it. You DO want to take something that can guarantee bringing an empty dish home.

A pot luck dinner this evening (hamburgers and brats provided by the hosts) found me perusing cookbooks and the internet for something a bit different -- a bit out of the box (or at least the box that's often on the prairie) and so I came up with my take on The Barefoot Contessa's Crunchy Noodle Salad.
It's Asian flavored, it's yummy, it's easy to make (as all of Ina's recipes seem to be), and I could almost guarantee that there would not be a similar salad at the pot luck.

She has two -- one in an early book and the other on her Barefoot Contessa show. I chose the latter.

Barefoot Contessa's Crunchy Noodle Salad

Kosher salt
1/2 pound thin spaghetti
1 pound sugar snap peas
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 T. dark sesame oil
1 T. honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. grated fresh ginger
3 T. toasted white sesame seeds, divided
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded and thinly sliced
4 scallions (with white and green parts) sliced diagonally
3 T. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring another large pot of salted water to a boil, add the sugar snap peas, return to a boil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp tender. Lift the sugar snap peas from the water with a slotted spoon and imerse them in a bowl of ice water. Drain.

For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 2 T. sesame seeds and peanut butter in a medium bowl.

Combine the spaghetti, sugar snap peas, peppers and scallions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the remaining 1 T. sesame seeds and the parsley and toss together.

NOTE: At my market, there were no sugar snap peas, so I added more green onion and a yellow pepper, sliced the same way as the red ones. I also used 1 T. black sesame seeds instead of toasted white ones to finish the dish.