Things I Eat: Salad Remix

This thing is seriously one of my staples. You might remember my post Things I Eat: That’s a Salad where I did a different version of this dish.

What You Need
A lot of this can be what you have around your place. I'm a fan of the sweet potato because it really sucks up whatever flavor I put on it which means I don't have to drowned everything in sauce. For this dinner – I used a lot more spinach and used carrot instead of broccoli.

• 1 package spinach (9 oz or so bag)
• 4 ounces fettuccine rice noodles - I use Tinkyada (Measure by placing a bunch of spaghetti between your thumb and forefinger. 2 ounces of pasta is about the diameter of a United States quarter. From How to Measure Dry Pasta)
• 3 whole large carrots peeled in long lines
• 2 cups sweet potato peeled in long lines
• Sun-dried tomatoes - A lot. I use the kinds packed in olive oil, you could use the dry kind
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Dried basil flakes
• Basil oil to taste
• Oregano
• Toasted sesame seeds (I had a little left)

What I Did

First, I boiled up my noodles. One day, I will have leftover noodles. Not today. Make them however you like them – al dente, smooshie. You can use whatever type of noodle, I happen to be a fan of the flat ones. I also enjoy a good spiral. 

While the noodles where cooking, I shaved my carrots and sweet potato. It’s really a feeling thing how much you want. I had a huge sweet potato and I seemed as if I hardly made a dent in it. I used about three large carrots. Feel free to shred the carrots or do whatever you want. I don’t like raw carrots sliced like coins – so, I stick with long strips or shredded so I can get them into my mouth better.

In my salad mix, I added a drizzle of basil oil, olive oil and then some dried basil and dried oregano to taste. I had a couple shakes of toasted sesame seeds left, so, I dumped that in. Putting the oils and seasoning on the sweet potato and carrot allow it to absorb the flavor more. Flavor doesn’t tend to stick to spinach right off the bat. Then add in your spinach and mix that up all nice and good.

Once the noodles are done, drain the water (don’t rinse the pasta) and put the pot and pasta back on the stove. Turn off the heat but use the heat you have! I added in the rest of the salad and carefully mix everything together. You can add the sun-dried tomatoes now – if you really like them, you can add a lot! I like to add them when I plate because they always end up on the bottom of my salads.

Plate up your salad and garish if you are into that sort of thing. Or just eat!

As you can see, this one turned out a little different that the last one I made and the different flavors made it taste entirely different.