The Official Spring/Summer 2011 Drink of Choice and Pea Nutty Noddles

Growing up, there were two drinks I loved and begged my mom to give me...a Shirley Temple and a half lemonade/half iced tea.  Shirley Temples, with 5 maraschino cherries please, are versatile and can easily be consumed during the winter holidays.  Little ol' Shirl can make any occasion feel fancy.  I only really remember consuming the half and half (now known as an Arnold Palmer) during the summer.  They were the pool-side/court-side/porch-side drink of choice for me. Beyond the half and half, summers also meant long days at the pool, honeysuckle, lightening bugs, later bedtimes, avocados, shrimp cocktails, bike rides, hammock time and night drives in my parents old convertible fiat. Summers were fun and free.

We are in the middle of spring here.  Days are getting longer.  There is a 10 inch thick blanket of pollen on just about every exposed surface.  I even saw my first mosquito yesterday. Everything is in full bloom.   

Summer is right around the corner.  I can feel it.  I don't want to rush anything and I definitely am not ready to let go of 50 degree nights, but this grown up version of the half and half might just push me there.  I am officially announcing it as the 2011 Summer Drink of Choice for this household.  It is really freaking incredible.  I made it for the first time the other weekend when we had some friends for brunch and have made it three times since. Introducing ginger-tea lemonade with basil and a sneak peak at the dinner for this Tuesday Night Swap.

I realize this picture doesn't quite display the iced tea in all of her deliciousness.  Please note adorable boy in background playing with trucks and Easter eggs.

I hate to give dinner a backseat, but this drink made me do it.  Don't get me wrong, the dinner was really delicious too, but to quote my husband, "dinner was good, this iced tea is great."  Sorry, peanutty noodles, I am going to leave you for the end of this post. Without further ado -

Ginger-Tea Lemonade with Basil ~ Giada De Laurentiis (note - this link is different than what is in the cookbook.  I made additions to the below based on the cookbook and my delicious results)

• 2 cups water
• 3 black tea bags, I used decaf English Breakfast
• 2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 1/3 cups Ginger Simple Syrup, recipe follows
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, from about 3 lemons
• 1 cup sparkling water or club soda, chilled
• 2 cups ice
• Lemon slices, for garnish, optional

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tea bags. Stir and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Remove the tea bags and discard.

Lay the basil leaves on a cutting board and cover with a piece of plastic wrap.  Using a rolling pin, roll over the basil and bruise the leaves.

Add the Ginger Simple Syrup, lemon juice and basil to the tea.  Allow to sit in the fridge for an hour to get cold.


Just before serving add the sparkling water to the lemonade mixture. Pour the deliciousness into a pitcher with ice. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.

Ginger Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, combine the sugar, water and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool, about 20 minutes. Strain before using.

Yield: 1 1/3cups

And now onto the dinner.  I am still really digging The Family Dinner cookbook and was inspired to try out the peanut sauce from their recipe for Pea Nutty Noodles.  The sauce was simple to whip up and had a really nice flavor.  I tend to overheat my peanut sauce so I decided to stay true to this recipe and see how it turned out.  I  used the same ingredients they spell out, but I made it a bit differently.  

Pea Nutty Noodles ~ The Family Dinner by Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt

Serves 6

1 pound of favorite pasta (I used spaghetti)

1 cup peanut butter (we love Trader Joe's PB)

1/2 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup warm water

3 tbls chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tbls toasted sesame oil

1 tbls honey

3 tbls white (rice or wine) vinegar (I used rice vinegar)

Garnishes - anything that you have on hand.  

Here is a list of what I used:

Sliced cabbage

Shredded carrots

Sliced scallions

Diced green apple

Diced red pepper

Chopped Peanuts

Sliced Limes

Cilantro

Other ideas:

Cubed tofu

Sliced cucumbers

Fresh Mint

Bean sprouts

Avocado

Directions

Salt a big pot of water and cook the pasta.  In the meantime, stir together the peanut butter and water in a small/mediumish pot over low heat.  When blended, add the ginger, garlic, toasted sesame oil, honey and vinegar.  Raise the heat a bit and stir.  Allow the flavors to mesh together and the sauce to thicken a bit (3-4 minutes) - be careful to watch the pot.  It will bubble and spit and char if you let it get too hot.  

If you are serving right away, you can mix the peanut sauce and pasta together and serve with garnishes for everyone to build as they want.  For swapping purposes, I recommend keeping the pasta and sauce separate (otherwise I think the pasta would break down from the soy sauce and be mushy) and to allow the swap recipient to combine and heat it back up just before dinner.  To reheat, throw pasta and sauce in a pot with some water over low heat until warm.

Deliver your basket of goodies.  Take requisite cute kid picture in front of beautiful viburnum.

Go back home.  Go out on back deck.  Pour yourself a tall glass of the official spring/summer 2011 drink of choice.  Garnish your own bowl of peanutty noodles.  Sit back.  Soak it all in.