.jpg?e0c879 "Snow Pea Salad via A Thought For Food - www.athoughtforfood.net")
Oil dribbled off my finger tip, which I quickly caught with my tongue before it fell to the countertop. The dressing was getting there, but it was missing something. A touch more soy sauce and maybe some red pepper flakes would do the trick. My goal was simple: I wanted this bowl of snow peas to pop.
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From an early age, salad dressings were one of my favorite things to make. Before I was allowed to pick up a knife or light the stove, I was put in charge of seasoning the salad. There were simple creations of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, but sometimes a sweeter balsamic dressing was more fitting. On other occasions, a lemon vinaigrette acted as the perfect match.
Salad without dressing has no chance of being anything more than a variety of textures. And we don’t eat something for the crunch alone. Even a little olive oil, salt, and some lemon juice can go a long way.
A salad, like the one presented here, is not always your green-based variety. It can be a single, seasonal vegetable that needs some love to liven it up. And, being one that will most likely be consumed alongside other dishes (maybe some soy-marinated chicken or fish that you’ll be throwing on the grill this Memorial Day weekend), it needs a dressing that stays true to the meal as a whole.
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I coated the snow peas, pulled out a fork from the drawer and dug in. My senses were overwhelmed in the best possible way. Looking down at the bowl, I smiled and thought, “This is what cooking is all about. This is magic.”
.jpg?e0c879 "Snow Pea Salad via A Thought For Food - www.athoughtforfood.net")
Snow Peas with Sesame Dressing
(2-4 servings)
Ingredients
Directions
To blanch the snow peas, bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the snow peas to the pot and cook until they turn bright green, approximately 30 seconds. Drain immediately into a colander and run cold water over the snow peas until they have cooled.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together both oils, the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ginger powder, and crushed red pepper until thoroughly combined. In a serving bowl, toss the snow peas with the dressing. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and green onion over the snow peas and toss to combine.
Let chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Love how simple, clean, healthy and delicious this recipe sounds!
I can probably eat a bowl of naked snow peas because of the crunch, but this dressing definitely makes me want more snow peas.
This is perfect and light for summer. Yum!
We eat snow peas and snap peas ALL THE TIME. I love the poppy sesame dressing. Making this weekend!
I love crunching on snow peas! Great little salad here!
This is so fresh and simple – the perfect salad, Brian!
I love snow peas! I’m going to put this on my list for next week!
I love fresh snowpeas! And I love all things sesame. Good by me!
LOVE this recipe, especially since I’m a huge snow pea fan. I love the sparing use of ingredients.
I picked up ingredients to make this today. And I’m weird, as mentioned on Twitter, I may add radishes because I just love them with snow peas!
Thanks for the inspiration and enjoy your long weekend!
Red pepper flakes make me happy
I make something similar for my kids – with just a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, and a sprinkling of organic sugar and toasted sesame seeds. Love how pretty your salad came out with the red pepper flakes, white and black sesame seeds.
LOVE snow pea! I can eat just that .. need no side or anything else to pair with it.
Simple and elegant, this could stand alone or served with a delicious protein! I love ingredients that allow for flexibility and this certainly does!
Love this salad. And love snow peas as a salad idea! Great flavour and so healthy. I could eat a bowl of this now!!
It looks fabulous. I’m bookmarking so I can try this soon.
This is super tasty dish. Reminds me to make if for S as he loves this simple yet flavor packed snow peas. Got to make it before he is off to Israel next week.:)
Written so well.. I can actually taste the salad through the screen
I love snow peas! This is a great way to serve them
You made me realize that I don’t do salad dressings with Asian flavors often enough. Now I am craving it. And with flavors like that, who needs anything more than a bowl of crunch?
Love snow peas. The salad looks very appetizing.
Mnnn. . . I loves me some peas, especially when they really pop.
mi bebé necesita una dosis adicional, porque “Pop” dice la comadreja.
Love this simple but fabulous side dish idea.
I love that making salad dressings was your contribution to helping out in the kitchen. What a creative way to have a child think outside of the box. I adore the combination of sesame with snow peas; a marriage made in foodie heaven. Will have to add this recipe to our list of easy lunches at home!
Lovely simple salad Love the asian flavours.
This dressing sounds amazing.
Simple but sublime, this is my kind of salad!
Happen to have the peas in the fridge….know what we’re having with the grilled salmon that’s for sure. Thank you.
That sesame dressing is great! I was looking for something like this to use in a noodle salad. Thanks a lot!
I’ve been making my own dressings for as long as I can remember too; I find it somewhat comical to remember all the years when I was younger that I wondered why that oil and vinegar bottle was always on restaurant tables…and now that I want it, they are gone!
My daughter was over recently and quite verklempt that there was no Thousand Island in the fridge (between you and me I could not WAIT to pitch that mess) but we rescued the day by making our own. She is now enlightened; she just never knew how easy it is to make and how much more flavorful the end result could be.
Love the snow peas…perfect with a dressing with sesame seeds!
Love your evocative way of introducing this simple salad that pops with flavor. I really need to eat more salads like this on a daily basis:)
I love the simplicity in this salad and absolutely easy recipe, I am going to make this as they are South beach diet friendly.
A simple dressing really can elevate a bowl of veggies from eh to WOW. And you definitely achieved that transformation here!
Isn’t it amazing how many people don’t make salad dressings? I have always loved how they can turn a simple salad into something extraordinary! This looks like such a lovely and light summer starter. Speaking of summer…I can’t wait to see you in Boston! I’m looking forward to meeting up with you already.
Sounds like the perfect simple side dish!
Made this tonight with some pan-seared scallops and shrimp. Delicious!!!
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