Fancy Nancy Visits: Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

I used to live with a good friend of mine, JT or “Fancy Nancy” (it’s a long story).    We shared living space, dog duties, a desire to cook dinners in nearly every night, good olive oil, and obsessive relationships with size 9 pumps, Glamour Magazine and beauty products.  Yeah, I miss her a lot.  I’ve lived in my new place for a while now and it was time for her to see the house, and for Walter the Wonderdog and her dog Max to have some play time.

What girl isn’t watching her weight?  I mean, even the super skinny ones that I want to force-feed veggie burgers to, are watching their weight.  I hate those girls, I have never and will never be what one might label as skinny (and I never want to be skinny-I, like Fergie, like my lovely lady lumps).   I digress…my fave veg cookbook author Isa Chandra (Moskowitz) just released a “fast and filling, low fat” vegan cookbook called Appetite for Reduction (hat tip to Axl Rose) and it is totally FAB.  There isn’t a single recipe that I don’t want to try, honestly.  So, I randomly opened the book to the salad section and tried this one:  Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing.  Ohhhhh, ahhhhh.  I know, right?!  I particularly LOVE this cookbook because, I sometimes am not really satisfied with 1 C of anything…so if you eat 2 C of something in this book, you aren’t really gonna pay the piper in terms of calories.  It’s still lower than an entree eaten out.  Isa does a great job with nutritional content and zippy tastes from common ingredients.  I used a couple of recipes from the book to make this dish, Pad Thai Salad and Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing.  All fast, and easy.  Enough talk, let’s eat.

Pad Thai Salad

• 8 C chopped romaine lettuce
• 4 C bean sprouts
• 1 small red onion, sliced thinly
• 1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 recipe Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing *
• 1/4 C roasted peanuts
• 1/2 C lightly packed fresh cilantro
• lime wedges for serving

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the lettuce, sprouts, red onion, and carrot.  Add the dressing and toss to coat.  Distribute the salad among four bowls.  There will most likely be dressing left over as it is fairly thin.  Distribute the dressing among the bowls.  Garnish with roasted peanuts, cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.

Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

• 1/2 C roasted peanuts
• 2 T chopped shallot
• 1/4 C squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 C water
• 2 T agave nectar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha

Pulse 2 T of the peanuts and all of the shallot in the food processor, just to chop everything up.  Add the lime juice, water, agave, soy sauce, and Sriracha, and blend until smooth.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides a few times.  Now add the remaining 2 T of peanuts and pulse for a bit.  These shouldn’t be blended smooth, just chopped up small.  The dressing will be thin.  Adjust the seasonings to your liking.  Keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container until ready to use, up to 5 days.

In this photo you will see Red Thai Tofu as well, but we will save that recipe for another day.

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