Good evening! Long time no blog. I’ve been a bit busy since getting engaged last month. It’s been a hectic but really exciting past month. I feel so lucky to have met the man of my dreams and to now be planning our wedding. But enough about that, there is another blog devoted to those details.
On to the food…
A couple of nights ago, Brad made this really delicious peanut sauce that he has made many times, to go on a brown rice dish I made. He has made this sauce so many times and it is really nutty, tangy, and has a bit of a kick. He never measures what he adds, using his memory of the taste to figure out how much to add of each ingredient. I really wanted to use the massive spaghetti squash I bought today at Trader Joe’s so I suggested we use the leftover peanut sauce with chicken and veggies. There wasn’t quite enough leftover for our meal for two so I set out to recreate the sauce, although I’ve never made it before. I also wanted to write the recipe down so I could share it.
This was Brad’s original sauce. I set it out so I could taste both and compare.
I assembled all of the ingredients.
Eventually, with the help of Brad’s taste buds, I had replicated the sauce and combined them.
Earlier that day, I had baked a large spaghetti squash.
I’ve learned that everyone cooks spaghetti squash completely differently after talking to my friend Brittney about it and then noticing several other food bloggers discussing their methods as well. I like to quarter mine (which allows it to cook faster than when it is just halved). Then I cook it, seed side up, at 400 degrees Farenheit until the top is browned (as pictured above). I do it this way because I don’t time it while it’s cooking. Each spaghetti squash differs in weight and size, so each one differs in the time it takes to cook. I’ve found that waiting until it browns is a good indication that the squash is completely cooked. Another thing I’ve learned, after many burned fingers, is to cook the squash way before you actually want to use it, so it will have plenty of time to cool. Scraping out the flesh of a cooled spaghetti squash is waaaay more pleasant than scraping out the flesh of one that is molten lava hot, much like the inside of a hot pocket. (Side note: you won’t ever find me eating a hot pocket. I tried them once in high school and once was enough for me.)
After removing the seeds and scraping out the flesh into a big bowl. I steamed some broccoli and carrots, sauteed two chicken breasts, and combinedall, drizzling the sauce over the entire mixture and topping with crushed cashews. It’s difficult to see the sauce in the picture because it really only takes a few tablespoons to really flavor the dish. The sauce is very flavorful.
Brad’s Peanut Sauce:
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled or quadrupled…I don’t know any more vocabulary to explain how much of this sauce you are gong to want to make after you taste it.
Combine the following ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter (smooth or chunky works just fine)
2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. fish sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sriracha sauce
This recipe makes about 6 Tbsp at approximately 39 calories per Tbsp. I think it could easily be made into a dressing by adding a bit of oil and more vinegar. By the way, if you don’t know what sriracha sauce is, it’s the red sauce with the green top in the picture of the ingredients. You can find it in the Asian/world food aisle of the grocery. It is totally addictive and I pretty much eat it on any green vegetable that will hold still.