As I have mentioned in the past, Cape Cod is not exactly awash with fabulous Chinese restaurants. This is my riff on the sesame noodles that I craved, using roasted vegetables and spaghetti because that is what I had on hand, and substituting white miso for the sugar usually used in US based Chinese sesame noodle recipes. While completely unauthentic (as are cold sesame noodles, I suspect, being part of the Chinese-American food canon), these hit the spot.
These are delicious hot as well as cold.
1 1/2 cups roasted vegetables (use whatever you have on hand in your hydrator. I used cabbage, kale, okra, onions and mushrooms -- the kale was an inspired idea because it crisped up into kale chips when roasted and added texture to the dish)
1 portion cooked noodles of your choice (I used spaghetti because I had an open package but soda noodles would work as would fettucine or egg noodles)
1/2 cup pea shoots (optional but added a freshness to the dish)
1 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
1 Tbsp tahini
2 tsps white miso
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp chili oil
Cook the pasta as directed on the package. One minute before the cooking time is up, add the pea shoots (if using) to the pan.
Drain, reserving one tablespoon of the cooking water. In a bowl, whisk the water with the peanut butter, tahini, white miso, rice wine vinegar, sesame and chili oils to form a sauce.
Put the pasta back in the pan. Add half of the sauce and turn the heat to low. Toss well to combine the pasta and sauce until each strand of pasta has a coating of sauce.
Add the roasted vegetables and toss to combine with the pasta, adding more pasta sauce as needed.
Once you have the ratio of sauce to pasta and vegetables to your liking and the vegetables are incorporated through the noodles, remove from the heat.
You can eat these hot or let them rest for ten minutes and enjoy them at room temperature like when you get them for takeout.