Cold Sesame Spinach Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Add the spinach and cook until it wilts and the stems become tender, 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove it with a strainer or slotted spoon and immediately plunge it into a bowl of ice water. When it has cooled off, squeeze the excess water from it and finely chop it.
• Sprinkle the spinach with a little salt and the soy sauce and shape it into a 1-inch-thick log (or press the spinach into small balls or mounds). Cut the log into 1-inch slices. Dip each end of each slice into the sesame seeds and arrange on a plate. Drizzle with the sesame oil. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving.

Steps:

• Wash spinach well, discarding any course stems, and drain in colander. In a 3- to 4- quart saucepan bring water to a boil. Add spinach and steam covered, 2 minutes. Drain spinach in colander, gently pressing out most of liquid. In a bowl toss spinach with oil, soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Chill spinach, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
• While spinach is chilling, in a dry small heavy skillet (not non-stick) toast sesame seeds over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Toss spinach with sesame seeds and vinegar.

Steps:

• Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling unsalted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cold. Drain the noodles really well and transfer to a wide bowl; toss with the sesame oil so they don't stick together. Chill.
• In a blender combine the peanut oil, ginger, garlic, chili paste, lime juice, brown sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot water. Blend. Toss the noodles with the peanut sauce until well coated. Serve at room temperature or chilled; garnish with the sesame seeds, green onions, and cilantro.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Prepare the vegetables: trim, seed, peel as necessary and cut into bite-size pieces. Reserve in a container until ready to use.
• Cook the noodles in the boiling water until tender but not mushy. When they're done, rinse in cold water, then toss with a little sesame oil. Store in one or more containers.
• Whisk together the sesame oil and tahini, sugar, soy, ginger, vinegar, hot oil and pepper in a large bowl. Thin the sauce with hot water until it's about the consistency of heavy cream; you will need 1/4 to 1/2 cup per serving; store as desired.
• When you're ready to eat, toss a portion of the noodles and a portion of the vegetables; top with sauce and stir to coat.

Steps:

• Rinse spinach and drain lightly. With water still clinging to leaves, cook in 3 batches in an 8-quart pot over moderately high heat, covered, turning occasionally with tongs, until wilted and bright green, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Transfer as cooked to a colander, then rinse under cold water until cool and drain well. Squeeze small handfuls of spinach to remove as much moisture as possible, then in 3 batches wrap spinach in several layers of paper towels and squeeze to remove even more moisture. Coarsely chop spinach.
• On a 16-inch sheet of plastic wrap, form half of spinach into a 13 1/2- by 1 1/2-inch log. Repeat with remaining spinach on another sheet of plastic wrap. Use plastic wrap and your hands to roll, compact, and smooth sides of logs. Remove and discard plastic wrap. With a sharp knife, cut each spinach log crosswise into 9 (1 1/2-inch) pieces (18 total), then arrange, cut sides up, on a platter, reshaping and smoothing mounds with your fingers.
• Finely grind 2 teaspoons sesame seeds in a blender, then add peanut oil, vinegar, mirin, shoyu, sesame oil, and salt and blend until combined well. Spoon 1 teaspoon dressing over each spinach mound, stirring dressing occasionally (it will separate as it stands), and sprinkle mounds with remaining 4 teaspoons sesame seeds.

Steps:

• Bring pot of lightly salted water to boil.
• Add spinach, remove as soon as leaves turn bright green (will shrink significantly).
• Immediately rinse with cold water.
• Drain and squeeze out as much water as possible (best to grab handful and squeeze like a ball) Place spinach in bowl with sauce mixture and toss well.