Gold Medal Meal -- Traditional Russian Dishes

As a new challenge we decided to make a meal based around the winners of the Sochi Winter Olympics - most gold and most medals.

And that means we'd be making Russian and American meals. The rules were - in case the US was a finalist - we had to make dishes we'd never made before and that were, in some way, authentic - from either cookbooks or "native" food blogs. For our American meal we're planning on using my new cookbook, Martha's American Food and we'll make our patriotic feast after we return from our honeymoon, to fittingly, Washington, DC.

This past weekend, we made a huge Russian spread and had my parents over to share.I did a lot of research with food blogs, an exciting Olympic-themed Buzzfeed article and an article from NPR. The hardest part of the meal was that I seriously struggled picking just a few dishes to try! Through this, I learned about a few trends in Russian cooking:

• Sturdy, root vegetables - potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots, radishes - are a big part of their cuisine. Id' imagine they handle the cold winter weather much better than other, more tender veggies. 
• Pickling of these veggies is also very prevalent, and also related to extending their shelf life. 
• They love to use mayonnaise in creamy salads and sauces. Apparently, Russian mayo tastes differently than our American style (but I used our Southern classic, Dukes)
• Seeds, like poppy seeds and carroway seeds, are very popular and used in most breads and many cakes. 
• The Russians love their sweets! Desserts were the most popular types of dishes I could find and were all super sweet! They used sweetened condensed milk, lots of sugar and honey. I have bookmarked several other cakes I want to try soon! 
• The food - and there's a lot of it made for meals and parties - is relatively inexpensive. We made our huge meal that would have easily fed six adults (with leftovers) cost less than $30 to prepare. 

Each of the dishes originally seemed very exotic and were combinations we'd normally have never tried - but turned out beautifully! We made six dishes that covered a wide variety of flavors and textures. Sharing all of the recipes would result in the world's longest blog post ever, so I'll just give you links to each of them with descriptions and any suggestions.

Golubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls)

This dish is exceptional but beyond time consuming. It may take forever, but is totally worth it. I worried that there wasn't enough flavor infused into the dish or it was lacking enough sauce (only 3/4 a cup!) but it was incredibly flavorful. The mix of meats made for a great flavor, the sauce added just enough bold tomato-ness and the texture was great. And while all of the dishes made ample portions, this one was extraordinarily huge - we fed four of us each four rolls and had leftovers for three lunch servings and three freezer portions! This is going in the "freezer friendly" portion of my recipe scrapbook and I hope to make it every so often to stock up.

Russian Cucumber and Radish Salad 

This dish was impossibly simple to make and full of fragrant flavors. The green onion, parsley and dill gave it a very herbaceous flavor that paired nicely with the sour cream. And I was surprised to see how flavorful cucumbers could be and how mild the radishes were - normally cucumbers are really delicate and radishes are overpoweringly spicy but these almost changed in the salad. Adding just enough salt really blooms the flavor, too - but be sure to serve it immediately or the salt will bring out the water in the cucumbers.

Carrot Salad with Walnuts and Garlic 

I thought this dish was the most out in left field. Carrots are often in salad, walnuts are often in salad and mayonnaise is often in salad dressing - however, to have a salad compromised of only these ingredients, plus garlic (WHAT?!) sounded like a sure fire "oh, that was a fun idea; glad it didn't cost too much" dish. But it was so good! The carrots were crisp and their sweetness paired nicely with the large garlic. It was fresh and springy and very lightly dressed. I will be making this again for sure.

Buttery Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs

Another trend in Russian food - lots of herbs and spices - these potatoes were simply made, boiled and then crisped up in butter and olive oil and tossed with a bunch of herbs and spices. I don't find these to taste all that foreign or exotic, and they would go with almost any meal. 

Sweet Piroshki

I'm terrified of working with dry yeast - so this was J's project. This recipe - like the golubtsi - made a TON. Piroshki is a stuffed roll, and you can make it in either a sweet variety with apples (as we did) or savory with a braised beef and cabbage filling. Again like the golubtsi, this dish took forever too but was delicious. The folding of the rolls is complicated but they could withstand more filling and I would change the apple filling to be sweeter or more flavorful - adding cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. Otherwise, when cooled they taste only like a yeast roll. 

Chocolate Salami 

This was my favorite dish of the entire night! Apparently this a staple in Slavic households and is always around for snacktime and I can see why. It was incredibly simple, only four ingredients and I could eat this for days. It is like a mix of fudge and cookie dough. J is really paranoid about cookie dough or cake batter or anything that delicious but also contains raw eggs, so this is a great alternative. It makes four salami and they're delicious in either the fridge or the freezer. My new goal is to make an entire chocolate charcuterie plate! 

I suggest you try some of these dishes and find your own new cuisines to explore! And stay tuned for our American feast. 

Simple Touches Make A Big Difference

I've mentioned before that while I appreciate slow dishes, stewed to perfection and take a real commitment of time, and usually high quality ingredients, I also love meals that are super fast and inexpensive. I don't always have the time or money required for some of my favorite recipes and we have to use simpler, often pre-packaged items in a pinch - and we're certainly not the only ones.

Food insecurity and food deserts are real issues across the country - and even our own community. With wealth disparities also come deficits of time for cooking and an inability to buy expensive, fresh ingredients. However, I want to plead the case that just because a meal involves simple, "low-brow" or pre-made/pre-packaged components doesn't mean it has to be any less special, delicious or full of love. I would argue that little, homemade, heartfelt choices can jazz up a meal that would otherwise be straight from the box (literally) and I want to share two such recipes - that we use frequently - with you.

When I was little, we were in a different place financially, and living in a rural area my family didn't know a lot about food. We ate a lot of country (and inexpensive) staples like cornbread, biscuits, potatoes and green beans, jellies and meats we canned ourselves. The majority of it was homemade but nothing like the crazy things my dad makes now (like bibimbap?!) and looking back at some of our "treats," I can't help but laugh. And it's absolutely not because I am ashamed or embarrassed, but the nostalgia of my childhood is just too funny to me.

One such treat, one of the first desserts I ever remember "making," was strawberry shortcake. We used to get these little pre-made sponge cakes that were practically flavorless (and only $1 for six!) and we'd top them with whipped cream and strawberries we'd cut up ahead of time and covered up sugar.

The sugar on the strawberries is the most important ingredient. It only takes about 2 T for a whole bowl of sliced strawberries, but left on them for a few hours, they make the most delightful, sweet juice - just perfect for shortcake! And instead of using plain white sugar, we use homemade vanilla sugar.

Feeling nostalgic, we made strawberry shortcake!

Albeit vanilla sugar does take some patience, but it couldn't be simpler to make and is easily refreshed. All you need is vanilla beans (we usually get Madagascar beans from MySpiceSage.com - they're a wonderful spice website that is inexpensive and gives freebies - usually vanilla beans - alot), white sugar and some sort of jar or airtight container.

Slice the beans in half so that you have two short halves, then split them open. Place them in your container and cover with sugar. We usually use half a bean per pint jar. Allow to sit for at least a month - the longer you leave it, the deeper the vanilla flavor. And whenever you've used up all of your sugar, just add more and repeat the process - the beans are very potent and will last through several refills.

After the sugar is ready you can use it in anyway you'd use regular sugar (in sweet dishes -- I wouldn't add this to chili or spaghetti sauce etc.). You could put it in your coffee, on french toast, in any pastry or, as we did, over sliced fruit. The vanilla adds a light sweetness and makes the most subtle, delicate changes in your dishes.

This is a wonderful touch for your dishes at home and adds a foodie feel to even the simplest of dishes, but it also makes a great gift. You can make it ahead in big quantities for holidays, decorate the jars and give out as beautiful and inexpensive gifts! We love our vanilla sugar so much that we actually gave out as favors at our wedding (with an added LEGO craft, of course).

Another quick, but impactful recipe is making your own seasoning for fries or homemade chips. We go to Grocery Outlet and stock up on $1.99 bags of french fries every few months and add them whenever we're short on side dishes. I am a french fry freak and I absolutely have a hierarchy of the best fries around and generally, frozen fries are on the bottom. However, using this Red Robin/Zaxby's knock-off seasoning, we're able to elevate ho hum fries into incredibly flavorful ones. And, the seasoning, which usually lasts us 3-4 months, costs less than $1 to make!

Mix 3 T salt (you could easily get away with 2 T if you're watching your sodium), 1 T instant tomato soup or spaghetti sauce mix, 2 t chili powder, 1/4 t ground cumin and 1/4 t ground black pepper. Store in an airtight container. 

I use this seasoning on practically any potato-product, but be sure to sprinkle this on immediately after cooking the dish - right after the fries come out of the oven/fryer etc. - to be sure it will stick. 

Providing a good meal doesn't have to involve a lot of time or money! I hope you take these two recipes and find your own way to incorporate small, homemade touches into your meals - making your own salad dressings and sauces or finding ways to jazz up boxed meals (check out Semi Homemade by Sandra Lee). 

Mardi Gras (or anytime) King Cake

I'm not Catholic, I've never been to Louisiana and I've certainly never "earned" any beads, but I love the season of Mardi Gras and Lent.

I've been observing Lent since I was 10 or 11 and the idea of self sacrifice for religious, and personal clarity has always resonated with me. I usually give up a few things that I love and I struggle to go without for 40 days and last year I started adding commitments - of things I don't do often enough. This year, I'm giving up french fries, all but one non-water drink a day and am going to "perform" an additional mile of exercise a day (on a bike, running, walking etc.). 

And before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday (March 5), I've been binging on my favorite sweet drinks and salty treats and obviously, not exercising regularly. But the best tradition before Lent begins is the big party of Fat Tuesday and its perfect dish - King Cake. 

Mardi Gras King Cake is a traditional dish in honor of the three wise men who visited Jesus as a baby and is eaten in celebration of the Lenten season. It's like a danish, cinnamon roll style dough, sometimes filled, but full of sweet cinnamon and buttery dough and covered with sweet icing or sugar in the colors of Mardi Gras - purple, gold and green (there are several variations in different cultures, like Mexican rosca de reyes which has more of a fruit cake flavor with sugared cherries and fruit pieces).  For Mardi Gras, a plastic baby (originally in honor Jesus) is poked through the underside of the cake and hidden inside. The person who received the piece with the trinket has to buy next year's cake or throw the next party. 

This recipe is a quick and easy version that, thankfully, doesn't involve actually making a yeast dough (I am terrified of using dry yeast) and is prepared in less than an hour. To me, the hardest part is the geometry of making a half-way decent circle shape and dying the icing and/or sugars just the right colors. 

Technically, this is a Fat Tuesday specialty but it is delicious year round and would make a wonderful dish for any breakfast, tea time (I assume people do that), bridal shower, holiday party or any time you're seeking a sweet, simple pastry. You can dye the icing/sugars to suit any color scheme or leave them plain white. 

Bon appetite and laissez les bons temps rouler! 

Mardi Gras-Style King Cake 

Ingredients:

4 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 c. raisins - golden or purple

1/2 c pecan halves (optional; I suggest including unless you have an allergy)

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 1/2 c powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 tablespoons milk or half and half

1 tsp vanilla extract

Purple, green and yellow colored sugar or food coloring

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a baking sheet or pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Soak raisins in a cup of hot water for 15 minutes; drain and pat dry (this will make them beautifully plump and tender). 

Blend cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins in the bowl of a food processor. Add the pecan halves and pulse until the pecans are 1/4" pieces. 

Unroll crescent dough and separate into triangles. Position triangles next to each other with the points toward the center, overlapping the long sides about a 1/4" - this will form a large round. Where the pieces overlap pinch the seams together in the middle of the seam - leave the ends unsealed so you can fold them. 

Visual example thanks to About.Com

Spread the cream cheese filling around the ring covering the center sealed seam. 

Fold the short side of each triangle toward the center, just covering the filling. Pull the point end of the triangles to fully enclose the filling, tuck under the points and lightly press the seams. 

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature. 

Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk or half-and-half (start with 2 T) and vanilla until smooth. This icing should be thick, so slowly add more liquid. Spoon the icing over the ring and allow it to drip over the sides. If you are using colored sugars sprinkle them in wide swaths across the cake. If using food coloring - separate your icings into three bowls and dye them accordingly and pour over individual sections of the cake. 

When it has cooled, you can push the plastic baby in through the bottom into a slice. Note: Some recipes suggest putting a dried bean into the cake, but this is small enough to choke on and hard enough to unexpectedly break a tooth - either do the big plastic token or skip it all together. 

Meatball & Tortellini Soup

This month's church fellowship was a Soup & Pie luncheon. How much more homey can it get than a warm bowl of soup and a sweet slice of pie? For the meal, I brought a new, fresh-tasting soup with vegetables, meatballs and tortellini (and my classic peanut butter pie - but I'm not ready to share that one yet).

It's a light soup (less than 500 calories/serving) - with low-sodium broth instead of a cream base, fresh vegetables and flavorful, caramelized meatballs. Like chicken noodle soup, this recipe is hearty without feeling heavy or overly rich. The light saute on the veggies gives them a firmer texture that makes for a satisfying bite. And the meatballs don't become dry but the quick browning gives them deeper flavor.

This one-pot soup made for quick prep and worked really well for the potluck because I was able to do 90% of the work the night before then only had to reheat and add the last two ingredients quickly at the end. It also kept well in the Crock Pot - if you have a CP with a locking lid, you're golden with this dish! 

This is also another great opportunity to bring your kids in the kitchen. This could be good for youngsters - even toddlers - who like getting their hands dirty (and know not to touch their mouths during or after) and want to help with the meatballs; but would be especially good for a young kid - I'm thinking 7 or 8 - who can manage simple cuts and would be able to sear the meatballs. Soup is a great place to start teaching your children how to cook because they're fairly inexpensive (this was less than $2/serving and most of the ingredients are pantry staples), so little can go wrong and they are such improvisational dishes - got a little too overzealous with the stirring? Fine. Ground meat instead of meatballs would be fine. No stress!

Grab a bowl and ladle yourself a great big helping of this delicious soup!

Meatball & Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

8 oz. ground beef

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (or 2 T dried herbs -- I used Italian seasoning)

1 large egg

1 clove garlic, minced

kosher salt, ground pepper

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 carrots diced

2 stalks celery, with leaves, diced

1 quart (two 16-oz cans) low sodium chicken broth*

9-oz package refrigerated cheese tortellini*

4 c loosely packed baby spinach

Method:

Combine beef, cheese, half of the parsley or herbs, egg, garlic, 1/2 t salt, and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Mix with your hands until just combined - over mixing will make your meatballs tough. Form into small meatballs (1" at the biggest, I made mine miniature so I had about 24+). 

Heat the oil in a pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning over when golden - until all sides are lightly browned (3-4 minutes, faster for smaller meatballs). Remove the meatballs to a plate. 

Add the carrots and celery and cook in the pan drippings until just softened. Add the broth and 3 cups of water; bring to a boil. Return the meatballs to the pot along with the remaining herbs and 1/2 t salt; simmer until the meatballs are just cooked through (about 2 minutes). Note: if you are making ahead - stop here and refrigerate until 15 minutes before serving and then bring back to a boil.

Add the tortellini and cook until they float to the top, about 4 minutes*.Note: if you are making this soup for only 1-2 servings instead of the full four, only make the fraction of the tortellini you need at the time. If pasta is stored for long periods of time, it absorbs liquid and becomes soggy. Add fresh pasta for each later serving. Add the spinach and cook, stirring until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. 

*Note: You can use dried tortellini as well (I did). If you do this, use an 8 oz. package (I used Barilla three cheese) and add another 16 oz. can of chicken broth. You'll need to cook the tortellini longer (about 8 minutes) and they will absorb more liquid. Keep an eye on it and you may want to add more water or broth if your soup looks too "thick," with little broth. 

Today's Kitchen Lifehack

Spring is in the air - or so it seems - and I am ready for warm weather projects to improve our lives and our house. The smallest of the projects slated for this weekend was a quick kitchen lifehack, that was also, a form of recycling.

For those of you who don't know... (per Urban Dictionary)

We use mason jars a lot in our home and I'm always looking for new ways to use them. We have several half gallon jars we use to store rice, pasta and animal crackers (all of my favorite carbs), we obviously use them for canning, oftentimes I carry my lunch in them to work and they were the centerpieces at our wedding. This hack makes their storage of dry goods a little bit easier and adorable! 

All you need is a mason jar - of any volume and mouth size, it's matching ring, an empty round salt container with pour spout and an Xacto knife. Trace the ring onto the salt container (around the spout) and carefully cut out the circle with an Xacto knife. Press the cardboard circle into the ring (spout up), fill your jar with whatever dry goods you'd like and close it. Voila! A new, handy jar with easy-to-close spout. We are using ours for our bulk Splenda that we use when we make tea and are looking to make a few smaller ones, too! It'd be great for dry goods you may not use that often but that come in larger, un-sealable packages - like cornstarch or baking soda. 

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter

I have a love/hate relationship with cookies.

I would say that I am more apt to and better at cooking sweets and even though J has the bigger sweet tooth, I enjoy trying new desserts and baked goods. However, cookies are on the bottom of my "love to bake" list.

I know of very few other dishes that are so deceptive. Cookies are a culinary catch-22.  "Bake until the edges are golden brown" is incredibly vague and I usually debate "is the middle raw?" until the golden brown edges indicate a dark brown bottom. And, they're one of the few items that can completely change consistency - for the worse - in a matter of minutes AFTER they're cooked. A golden-brown-edged cookie that is so tender on the pan can be hard as a rock when cooled. So essentially, I should be pulling them out when the centers are raw so that maybe they'll have a chance to be soft later on.

All that ranting aside, we had an almost 24-hour snowstorm yesterday and it may be a relic behavior from our prehistoric days, but severe weather makes me insatiably hungry. I knew I needed to bake.

Seven inches of beautiful snow!

 J'd bought groceries on Monday but didn't include my snowstorm, junk food staples; so I was working on random pantry items. Amazingly, I found a recipe that allowed me to finish off three near-empty baking supplies and made a delicious new treat.

These cookies are fairly simple, but do require some time. Making good brown butter is easy but needs constant attention. I've eaten dishes cooked in/with brown butter and the time and cooking really does add a noticeable flavor difference - it makes for a deeper, nuttier, heightened flavor. As Carla Hall says on The Chew, when cooking, the flavor is in the brown!

I'd never made my own brown butter before and learned a few tricks. For more info visit this article and video tutorial. 

• This should be obvious, but isn't - make your brown butter in a light colored pan. Dark, anodized pans will prevent you from telling if your butter is still yellow, brown, or burnt. Duh!
• Slicing the butter into tablespoon-sized chunks will move the process along faster than dropping in an entire stick.
• Be patient and constantly stir - this can go bad QUICKLY. Stir, stir, stir and keep an eye on the color. Again, this will sound like deceptive cookie talk but when it starts to turn light brown, go ahead and pull it off of the heat or it will black quickly. 

Also, this recipe was originally intended to have a caramel center (the dough "wrapped" around a melting caramel square) but we don't do a lot of caramel in the house and thus didn't have any in the pantry. I thought I could do the same and have a melty ball o' chocolate in the middle, but that is far too time consuming. I would suggest that you can add some mix-ins like nuts or chocolate chips, but stir them in at the end before chilling, this will save a lot of time and effort - and will essentially turn this into a low-maintenance drop cookie.

I love oatmeal cookies because they're so much more hearty. They feel more stout and to me, more homey. They feel more like something my grandma would give me than a super sugary, no-filler cookie. This recipe is for a well-balanced cookie. All of the components blend so well together to create a cookie that isn't over-the-top in sweetness, nuttiness, chocolate or texture - to me, they're just right. They are just sweet enough- by mixing brown and white sugars they have a depth of sweetness from the molasses that just makes you all warm inside (as opposed to sugar high). And the dollop of peanut butter on top adds a great richness that again, isn't over-powering, but compliments the sweetness well. Cooked peanut butter doesn't give the same flavor as you might get from other chocolate-peanut butter recipes that's overpowering. It actually gets deeper and more rich and looses some of it's sugar, this is a much more refined faux-Reeses pairing.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, cut into T chunks (see above on brown butter)
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar (dark or light, your choice)
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c old fashioned oats
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2-1 c chocolate chips (or other "mix-ins")
peanut butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small sauce pan, melt butter on medium/low heat to create brown butter. Follow directions in tutorial above. Remove from heat.

In a bowl mix sugars, egg, and vanilla together. Slowly add the butter to temper the eggs. Mix until well combined.

Mix in oats, flour, salt and baking powder until dough forms. Add in any chocolate chips, nuts etc. here.

Place in fridge for 20 minutes to chill.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Top each cookie dough ball with a dollop (around a tsp.) of peanut butter.

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are golden.

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before eating (the peanut butter will be like lava!). These do become "crunchier" when fully cooled, so microwave a few seconds when enjoying later.

Staying Warm with Spicy Food

Once again we're getting ready for a major snowstorm and preparing for a ton of snow and ice. Our priority is staying warm and full. We do have wine, but drinking alcohol actually increases your risk of hypothermia, so instead we're eating spicy food to help warm us from the inside out.

We both enjoy Thai food and frequent Thai Spice in Waynesville - which makes delicious, authentic dishes - as often as we can. However, when we can't make it over the mountain we are learning to make our own Thai-inspired dishes. Jordan's mastered a Thai pizza with peanut sauce, chicken and carrots; I make a chicken, turkey or tofu panang curry and this peanut noodle dish is a great addition to our repertoire.

This recipe is easy (only 15 minutes start to finish) and boy, it is "Thai hot." If you're more tender-tounged and don't enjoy spicy food, this recipe could easily be toned down, and I think I will adjust the spice level myself next time (noted in the recipe). It's a quick dish that provides a serving of lean protein and whole grains with vegetables. Paired with Lean Cuisine's Thai-style chicken spring rolls (a favorite in our house), the entire meal is less than 600 calories.

I especially appreciate that the ingredients in this dish are familiar, and actually are pantry staples at our house. Sometimes, making foreign cuisines can involve exotic, hard-to-find ingredients and require last minute, oftentimes sub-par substitutions. This dish allows you to transform everyday items into an international treat!

The sauce lends a great, deep peanut flavor and creamy coating to the noodles and vegetables. The chopped peanuts layer the nutty flavor but add a much needed crunch. The ground chicken adds to the texture but it's mild flavor is easily manipulated with the sauce; you could use ground turkey as well which has a more assertive flavor, as well. This is a delicious dish that can certainly hold us over until our next Thai Spice adventure.

Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles

Ingredients:

1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 tsp. sriracha*
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes*
12 oz. uncooked whole grain spaghetti
1 lb. lean ground chicken (or turkey)
1 1/2 c julienned carrots
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped *
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c finely chopped peanuts
4 green onions, chopped

* The spice level here is very hot, consider cutting the sriracha amount in half and omitting the crushed red pepper all together. Also, you may also consider using a green bell pepper - although subtle, the red pepper can add extra spice, too. If you think the sauce is still too spicy, you can add sour cream or cream cheese (1 T at a time) to the sauce mixture or serve it at the table.

Method:

Whisk the first six ingredients in a bowl until well blended.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, drain.

Meanwhile, cook chicken, carrots, pepper and garlic in large pan over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink. Drain and return to pan.

Stir in peanut butter mixture and bring to a boil. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly (3-5 minutes). Toss spaghetti in the pan with sauce.

Serve topped with green onions and peanuts.