Quick Meal Fix-- Sesame Noodles with Chicken & Asparagus, from Cook's Country

Who knew that a magazine titled "Cook's Country" would have some pretty tasty recipes with an Asian influence?! We love Thai food, so this recipe caught my eye, as I was looking for the lemon pudding cake recipe I made a couple of weeks ago.

I am still eating from what's in my pantry and refrigerator, so I was pleased that I had every ingredient on hand! I had asparagus that really needed to be cooked, so "Asian" was tonight's dinner.
You'll need chili garlic sauce, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, toasted sesame oil, peanut butter, fresh ginger, asparagus, linguine (or rice noodles, which I'll use next time) and cut-up chicken breasts (or shrimp would work well).

I keep oyster sauce, fish sauce and chili garlic sauce, on hand, because I enjoy making meals with an Asian infuence. By the way-- do not be afraid of oyster or fish sauce! Please! I hate oysters. Truth be told, I've read that what I buy is oyster-flavored sauce. I like the thickness it gives to sauce, and it has a very subtle flavor. Fish sauce stinks, okay? Somehow, it doesn't both me because it also gives a subtle (in my opinion) flavor to Thai and Asian dishes.


You'll want to cook the linguine a little less than al dente (about 7 minutes) and then toss in cut up asparagus for about 3 minutes, then drain. While the pasta is cooking, I cooked cut up chicken until just pink-- about 2-3 minutes per side and then I set that aside.

Here's a tip when I make pasta-- I place a measuring cup into my colander. That reminds me to reserve pasta water. With this recipe, the pasta water helps to blend the sauce (which I didn't photograph, silly me).


Once the pasta is drained, you put it back into the pot, add the chicken and then pour the sauce and blend.


This made a lot of food! From start to setting the plate onto the table, it took less than 30 minutes.


If I had some fresh cilantro, that would have made a pretty garnish. Pretend there is some on this plate, okay?

The sauce has a little "bite" to it from the fresh ginger and chili garlic sauce. My husband loves heat. Me? I'm a little whimpy, but I could handle it.

The next time I make this dish-- and I will-- I'll definitely try making this with shrimp and rice noodles. The sauce is a winner!