Edith Maxwell aka Maddie Day's Asian Noodle Salad

Today MLK welcomes Edith Maxwell aka Maddie Day with a yummy recipe and an audiobook giveaway. Add a comment to be entered!

Maddie/Edith: Thanks for having me over to the best recipe blog around, Roberta/Lucy. I’m excited that Death Over Easy comes out on Tuesday. It’s the fifth Country Store mystery, and there will be at least four more (squee!). To celebrate, I’ll give away an audiobook of the previous book, Biscuits and Slashed Browns, to one commenter here today.

Asian Noodle Salad

Robbie Jordan’s assistant Turner recreates a dish for a Pans ‘N Pancakes lunch special that he ate at a different restaurant. Robbie also takes a portion to widower Glen Berry as a condolence offering.

Ingredients

1 package soba or rice noodles broken in half

2 tablespoons sesame oil 

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar 

4 tablespoons unflavored rice vinegar

Dash red pepper flakes

1 sweet red pepper, cut into one inch toothpicks

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into one inch toothpicks

1 cup snow or snap peas, trimmed and sliced lengthwise

Directions

Boil noodles according to directions on package. Drain, rinse, toss with one tablespoon sesame oil, and let cool. 

In a serving bowl, whisk together the rest of the oil with the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and pepper flakes. Add the noodles and prepared vegetables and toss. Adjust seasonings to taste. 

Option: Add more or fewer pepper flakes, or part sesame chili oil if you like it hot. Use shredded carrots, purple cabbage, or other vegetables of your choice (or whatever is ripe in your garden).

Serve chilled or at room temperature. Great as a summer side dish with grilled fish or meat, or with shredded chicken or marinated tofu mixed in for a main course.

In Death Over Easy, restaurateur Robbie Jordan is ready for the boost in business a local music festival brings to South Lick, Indiana, but the beloved event strikes a sour note when the celebration is cut short after a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he – or she – can conduct an encore performance.

Don't forget to leave a comment for this giveaway:

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and a new 2019 series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell is president of Sisters in Crime New England and lives north of Boston with her beau, two elderly cats, and an impressive array of garden statuary. She blogs with the Wicked Cozy Authors and at Killer Characters, and hopes you’ll check out all her writing at edithmaxwell.com.

Ellie Alexander's Asian Noodle Salad, and a #bookgiveaway!

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: We LOVE Sundays, when other authors visit the Kitchen to share their tales and recipes. Today's guest, Ellie Alexander, has a new Bakeshop Mystery coming out later this month, and she's celebrating with a recipe and a giveaway! Leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of A Crime of Passion Fruit AND some tropical baking treats!  

ELLIE ALEXANDER: Thanks so much for having me on today! Here in the Pacific Northwest the sun is finally out after a record-breaking winter of rain, rain, and more rain. I spent many water-logged months dreaming of sandy beaches, salty blue waters, and tropical recipes for the latest culinary adventure in the Bakeshop Mysteries, A Crime of Passion Fruit. In this book, Jules is setting sail for a week in the Caribbean where she’ll be whipping up mango tarts, pineapple flambés, and dainty citrus cakes. I’m thrilled to get share her recipe for Asian Noodle Salad. This pasta is easy to make and perfect for a summer picnic or dining al fresco in your backyard. Three cheers for summer and the return of the sun!

Asian Noodle Salad

For the salad:

8 ounces of spaghetti—boiled and cooled

½ of purple cabbage—chopped

½ of Napa cabbage--chopped

2 cups of bean sprouts

1 8 oz. bag of fine-cut carrots

1 bunch of cilantro—chopped

2 cups peanuts

2 cups of diced chicken breast, cooked and cooled

For the sauce: 

¼ cup sesame oil

½ cup peanut oil

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup teriyaki sauce

½ cup of rice wine vinegar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic--chopped

Start a pot of water boiling for the pasta. 

In a separate pan, add a healthy glug of sesame oil. If you want to add a little heat to the chicken I recommend using spicy sesame oil. Then add thinly sliced chicken breasts to the pan and sauté on both sides for five minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside to cool. 

Once water has come to a boil, add spaghetti and cook to al dente. I use veggie pasta to sneak in another serving of vegetables, but any spaghetti will work.

Next halve the heads of cabbage and chop. Add to a large mixing bowl. If you can find julienned carrots, simply pop open the bag and add to cabbage. If your local grocery store doesn’t sell the carrots pre-sliced, then simply grate or finely chop whole carrots. Add in bean sprouts and chopped cilantro. Note—I use the same cutting board for the chopping process. Everything is going to end up tossed together so there’s no need to clean as you go. 

Mix veggies together with cooled chicken, peanuts, and noodles.

In a separate bowl, begin making the sauce. First dice two cloves of garlic. Next whisk in oils, teriyaki sauce, vinegar, and brown sugar.

Pour over the salad and stir with tongs. Top with chopped cilantro, peanuts, and a quarter of a lime.

Serve cold.

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of A Crime of Passion Fruit, along with some tropical baking treats. (US addresses only, please.) Contest open through Monday, June 5. 

Ellie Alexander writes the Bakeshop Mystery series for St. Martin’s Press, set in the Shakespearean town of Ashland, Oregon and featuring a romantic, artisan pastry chef, Juliet Montague Capshaw.

Ellie is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research.

You can find her online at her website, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.