Indonesian Pork Sates with Thai Peanut Sauce

 

When you work at a large NYC law firm, sometime in late May your summers suddenly become consumed with activities for the summer associates (second year law school students aka 2L's who have a summer internship at your law firm).  At least once a week there are cocktail parties and other random events in the evening, in addition to all of the fancy 3 course lunches that you escort the summers on.  And all of that is in addition to your regular work load.  Tonight we had a cocktail party at the office to kick of our summer program.  They served all sorts of good food - sushi, sashimi, a fajita bar, antipasto platters, sliders, etc.  But I was determined to eat dinner at home.  So I purchased all of the ingredients, handed Alex a recipe and told him that I would call when I was on my way home so he could start cooking.  I told him that I would be home around 8:30 pm, but he should know by now that when I say 8:30 pm and I am at a work event that he should build in an extra 30-45 minutes.  Just after 9:00 pm I jumped in one of the company cars and called him to tell him that I was on my way. 

It's a good thing that Alex can cook because otherwise we would order a LOT of pizza.  And as much as I like pizza, I really think that these pork satays were better than any slice of pizza could possibly be.  The marinade on the surface of the pork caramelizes up nicely and it gives the pork such great flavor.  I loved the pork dipped in the Thai Peanut Sauce, but it was flavorful (and moist) enough on its own that it almost didn't need the sauce.  We served the pork satays with the peanut sauce, some white rice and some roast asparagus tossed in sesame oil.  So good.  Pizza, eat your heart out.

Recipe after the jump!

Spicy Peanut Noodles

These noodles are another one of my quick and easy weeknight meals.  I have found several peanut or sesame noodle recipes and tinkered with them until I came up with this one, which I think has the perfect blend of spiciness, peanutty-ness and just a touch of sweetness.  When I was growing up my mother always made cold sesame noodles for every potluck I went to.  She tossed in cooked shredded chicken breast, shredded snow peas, shredded carrots, chopped peanuts and a few other things depending what was in the fridge.  While I love her cold sesame noodles as a lunch or potluck option, I rarely find them sufficient by themselves for dinner.  For dinner I usually want something warm - particularly in the winter when it is cold outside.

From beginning to end these noodles take less than 30 minutes, which is fabulous on a Wednesday night in the middle of a busy week.  You can also add whatever vegetables you happen to have around the house.  Tonight we used fresh shitake mushrooms and tofu.  I felt the need to do a nice vegetarian meal this evening after pigging out on a big fat cheeseburger from Five Guys last night for dinner.  Usually if I have red bell peppers, carrots or snow peas I shred them or slice thinly and throw them in when I toss the noodles with the sauce, but the fridge was a little barren this week.  Anyway, the beauty of a recipe like this is that you can feel free to add whatever you want to your noodles.  Get creative!

Recipe after the jump!