Noodling around

Sunday was another brilliantly pleasant last-chance-to-relax sort of day. (Notice how I’m moving slowly on the recaps here? I’m trying to pace myself so that I have some buffer when work piles up again!)

The project of the day was a variation of Gena’s raw zucchini alfredo since I loved it so much last time I made it.

I started by using a peeler to make carrot and CSA zucchini noodles.

Next, I used a knife to make CSA broccoli-stalk noodles and CSA bok-choy-stalk noodles:

I collected arugula and basil from my balcony garden and added those after a thorough chop.

Then, I figured I might as well throw in as much as I could, so I added CSA boy choy leaves, CSA snap peas, and CSA “braising greens” (which were tender enough to eat raw, incidentally), and sauteed CSA garlic scape. Can you tell I love my CSA?

I mixed my “noodles” with balsamic vinegar, toasted sesame oil, my mom’s herb-infused olive oil, coarse sea salt, lemon juice, and freshly ground coriander and transferred the bowl to the fridge for some marination time.

Meanwhile, I started on the cashew alfredo sauce … but since I had no cashews, I decided to give it a go with these jumbo brazil nuts from OhNuts!:

They were definitely jumbo!! Check out this comparison to a lowly sunflower seed:

I gave a cup of the nuts a coarse crush, covered them in water, and moved them to a fridge for a few hours to soak.

After the soak, I poured out most of the water (to save for later!) and kept about 1/3 cup in the bowl with the nuts to facilitate a heavy-duty immersion-blending session.

Once the nuts were pretty much processed, I started to add everything I could find: juice and pulp of 2 lime slices along with 1/4 cup spicy adobo sauce left from Rosalie and Rosey’s lunch last Thursday at work, 1 tsp date bliss, coarse sea salt, a few packets of soy sauce left from a roommate’s chinese food takeout, toasted sesame oil … is that it?

I blended and blended and blended some more, gradually adding about another cup of water until my sauce was smooth. I finger-licked my way through a few adjustments until everything tasted perfect. I was not sure how the brazil nuts would fare since they are less naturally sweet than the cashews, but this sauce tasted excellent!

In the midst of all the marinating and soaking time for my noodles and sauce, I kept myself busy enough with other things! I started the day with a bowl of my overnight mapley-date-flax oats:

I filled half the bowl with the oats topped with raisins and the other half with yogurt topped with CSA blueberries. I added a spoonful of date bliss and a sprinkle of cinnamon to the top:

For lunch, I sampled my way across the Slope from Union Market to Blue Apron Foods to the other Union Market and then made a quick pit-stop at home for half of a cucumber with hot mango chutney-yogurt dip:

(I know I already talked about how I love the hot hot spicy sweetness of this chutney, but I also need to mention that it has huge chunks of delicious mango in it, too. I’m going through this little jar so fast!)

I finally settled down with a light caramel frappucino at Starbucks (everything else was closed!) so that I could play email catchup:

Then I got home just in time to put the finishing touches on my dinner and settle in for my feast 😀

I guess my final dish is more like a salad than noodles since I added so much, but it’s still delicious!

The sesame and soy flavors really come through and make an excellent cold sauce, and there’s still the spicy heat from the adobo. I may have to plan a day where I just eat this for every meal!

There was dessert, too, but that will have to be the star of another day 😛

Do you say “noodle” or “pasta” or something else altogether? Do you use “noodle” to refer to anything aside from food? i.e. You’re such a noodle … or I spent the day just noodling around … or I love floating in the pool with a noodle …