A Boating Luncheon

Shelly is lounging in the salon of 4 My Girls, lounging now, but earlier she was creating up a storm. She brought a homemade boursin, a shrimp pate with a carmelized onion topping, served with rice sesame crackers. Stop by her blog and beg for the recipes.


Sheryl made a yummy Mexidip and Dor took care of the bar.

Just call me the Barefoot Contessa. Please. I loved those episodes where Ina packs up a lunch or supper to take on the boat for Jeffrey. She always has the right size container for just the perfect salad that is a meal unto itself. I found this recipe and had just the right container and garnishes too. Love it. The girls made me promise to share the recipe.


THAI Pasta Salad

Dressing:
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar*(I used seasoned because it's what I had in the house)
1 tablespoon Asian garlic-chili sauce*(I used Asian sweet chili sauce because that is what I had in the house)
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger root
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes*(I used less because not everyone likes heat)
3 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Salad
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked linguine pasta*(I used 12 oz.)
3 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cut into strips*(I used my cash and carry frozen chicken breast)
1 cup julienne-sliced carrot*(I used the shredded carrots that I buy at Haggens)
6 green onions, chopped*(I used three, Dor doesn't like too many onions)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts, for garnish*(I brought my Grandma's nut chopper on the boat and quickly garnished while on the boat)

DIRECTIONS
To make the dressing, place the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili-garlic sauce, brown sugar, ginger, red pepper flakes, and 3 tablespoons of chicken broth together in a blender or bowl of a food processer. Blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin the dressing to your taste by adding more chicken broth or water.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place pasta into a large mixing bowl.
Add the chicken, carrots, green onions, red pepper, celery, and cilantro to the bowl with the linguine. Pour the dressing over the noodle-chicken mixture and toss until mixture is evenly coated.

*Oh come now, you didn't really think I'd follow the recipe word for word, did you?



Our hostess saying good bye. I'm not really sure if she said to come again though...

Oh, and one more thing Doreen doesn't like about boating is that boats don't have brakes. She's right about that, good thing we went NO Where!