Peanut Sauce Soba Noodles With Roasted Zucchini and Wakame

This peanut sauce, adapted from the Barefoot Contessa, is incredible. When I made it the first time, I couldn’t believe that I was putting together so many ingredients for sauce, but in the end, it was absolutely worth it. With roasted zucchini slices, julienned vegetables, and topped with wakame seaweed, this recipe is a vegetarian’s delight.

For the peanut sauce:

• · 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• · ¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• · ½ cup vegetable oil
• · ½ cup tahini (sesame paste)
• · ½ cup smooth peanut butter
• · ½ cup good soy sauce
• · ¼ cup dry sherry
• · ¼ cup sherry vinegar
• · ¼ cup honey
• · ½ teaspoon Asian hot chili oil
• · 2 tablespoons dark toasted sesame oil
• · 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• · Good olive oil
• · Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• · Optional: black truffle oil

All the rest:

• 1 8-ounce package of soba noodles, cooked
• 1 zucchini, thinly sliced ½ of a red onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, julienned
• Fresh fennel bulb, sliced
• Dried wakame, rehydrated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC/Gas mark 7.
2. Lay zucchini slices on an oiled pan. Sprinkle salt and smoked paprika over all the slices.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until soft and slightly brown around the edges. Remove from heat and cool.
4. While the zucchinis are roasting, mix all of the peanut sauce ingredients together and mix well.
5. Mix the soba noodles, onion and fennel into the sauce.
6. Plate the noodles and place two or three slices of zucchini on top. Spoon some wakame on the crown of the dish and top with carrot.
7. Devour.