Noodles with Peanut Sauce, Broiled Kale, and Butternut Squash

Here's a luscious dish of noodles, kale butternut squash, enveloped in a rich peanut sauce. If you prefer, you can have all the ingredients heated and serve the dish hot instead of at room temperature. Contributed by Bryanna Clark Grogan.

Serves: 8

• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• ⅔ cup water
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce (to taste)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 3 cloves, garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon Thai or Vietnamese hot chili sauce (no fish)
• 12 ounces dried udon noodles or egg-free (flour and water) Chinese noodles
  (gan mian or ji mian) or spaghettini
• 1 ¼ pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into ¼ inch thick slices,
  about 1"  by ½"
• 12 ounces small, tender, green curly kale, stems removed, cut into wide slices
• Cooking oil spray
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• ½ cup chopped dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts

Blend the peanut butter, water, brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and chili sauce in blender or food processor until smooth, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if too thick. Set aside until ready to serve. This sauce can be made 1 day ahead, in which case cover and refrigerate; then bring to room temperature before serving.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain the noodles in a colander, running hot water over them. Set aside in the sink to drain..

Place the squash pieces in one layer on a large cookie sheet, spray lightly with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil about 3" under the heat source until the squash tender and slightly charred, on both sides.

Add the kale on top of the squash, spray with oil, and sprinkle with salt. Broil briefly until the kale is tender and a little brown around edges. Watch it carefully—it doesn't take long!

ALTERNATELY, you can stir-fry the kale in a bit of oil until tender.

Toss the drained cooked noodles, green onions, and peanut sauce in large bowl. Divide noodle mixture among 8 bowls. Top noodle mixture with squash and kale. Sprinkle each serving with chopped peanuts. Serve at room temperature.

Bryanna Clark Grogan is the author of Nonna’s Italian Kitchen: Delicious Homestyle Vegan Cuisine*and numerous other vegan cookbooks.  Visit her at The Vegan Feast Kitchen. 

• Find lots more recipes on VegKitchen for kale, collards, and other hardy greens.
• Here are lots more winter squash recipes.
• Find more of VegKitchen’s Vegan Dinner Recipes.
• Here are more recipes using Asian noodles.

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