Photograph by Bennett Pruitt
There are some days that my schedule is so full, I don’t have time to make a meal completely from scratch. On these days, I have “freezer food.” Whenever I make food I try to make extra so that I put in the freezer for future dates.
Today is one of those days. So I took a look in the freezer and I found peanut sauce, already cooked capellini, and frozen shelled edamame.
When I saw these ingredients, I thought pasta tossed with peanut sauce sounded marvelous, and with a few veggies and chicken, you have a complete meal. So, I went to the store and bought a rotisserie chicken. Here's the recipe:
1-2 rotisserie chicken breasts (shredded)
1 (16 oz.) peanut sauce
1 cup shelled edamame (cooked)
1 cup bean sprouts
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ lb. capellini
Soy sauce to taste
Toss everything together and serve. You can serve warm or cold. With recipes like this, you can really do anything. You can add more chicken, or take away chicken. You can even turn it into a veggie delight. Serves four.
For the peanut sauce, you can certainly buy it, but if you want to make it from scratch, here’s how you do it:
1 (14 oz.) canned coconut
2 Tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup brown or palm sugar
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
½ cup ground peanuts (roasted)
Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until bubbly. Add the curry paste and coriander and whisk until blended. Add the salt, sugar, and tamarind paste and stir. Then add the peanuts and cook for five minutes. Peanut sauce can be stored in the fridge for two weeks or in the freezer for up to six months.
