Garlic noodle

We bought 5 pounds of spaghetti because it was on sale. That's a lot of dry spaghetti, and I need some diversity in what I can do with it. Ideally, something non-tomato-sauce based. So Andrea Nguyen's take on garlic noodle is just perfect. I modified it with suggestions from her comments and the result is ... divine. I am craving it right now again, even though I just had it yesterday.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound dry spaghetti
2 sausage link (I had some from Trader Joe's, but you can skip it)
4tbsp butter
5 cloves garlic: very finely minced (I use a grater), and mixed with 2 tbsp of water
2 tbsp soy sauce
a dash of fish sauce
2 tbsp each chopped green onion and cilantro
salt, pepper, parmegiano cheese

Bring water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add some salt. When water starts boiling, cook pasta until tender (about 12 minutes). Drain the pasta, but reserve a cup of the pasta water
In a deep skillet, melt butter, then add the garlic mixture. Cook for 1 minute. If you use sausage, add it to the skillet and cook until heated, about a minute or two. Add the soy sauce, the pasta water and a dash of fish sauce. When the mixture is boiling, add the pasta and toss with a tong.  making sure the pasta is coated with the sauce. When liquid is almost fully absorbed, add green onion, cilantro. Toss. Turn off the heat, add however much parmegiano cheese you want and toss again.
Serve with some boiled veggies.

The list of the ingredient sounds really weird, I know, but in the end, everything works so well together, you'll only taste wonderful, creamy, garlicky noodle. Promise!

Vietnamese chicken salad

Another way to use my left-over garlic chicken legs, but you can also use left-over rotisserie chicken, or just roast some chicken legs or breast. The key of this dish is the fish sauce dressing. I give you my recipe, but it is subjective, so just keep tasting until you have found your perfect combination.

Ingredients (for 2 as appetizer, for 1 as entree)

1/4 medium cabbage
1/2 small sweet onion
2 garlic chicken legs
some chopped cilantro (or Vietnamese corriander - rau ram)
2 tsp crushed peanuts

for the dressing
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar).
If you like it spicy, have some some thinly sliced chili pepper on hand.

Thinly slice the onion, put it in a small bowl and cover with vinegar (I use rice vinegar). Thinly slice the cabbage and put it in a big bowl (makes it easier to mix later). Add a pinch of salt and toss. Shred or cut the chicken into long pieces. Add to the cabbage. Drain the onion and add to the mixture together with the cilantro. Toss.

Mix the fish sauce with vinegar (you can re-use the vinegar that you used for the onion) and sugar. Stir to dissolve everything. Add some chili if you like it hot.

Add the dressing to the cabbage, meat and onion mixture and toss. Let it rest for 5 minutes then serve with crushed peanuts sprinkled on top.