If you read the post on the Japanese baked mussels, you know the story of my family’s tradition of having an Around the World dinner on New Year’s Eve. After a long day of traveling (which involved a snowbank, and subsequently very wet clothes for a couple of hours in the car), having a very simple dinner planned was the ONLY reason that the dinner ended up happening. I was so glad that I had purchased everything before the trip, and that I had the sense to plan something simple, which, in the hopeful realm of pre-trip planning does not always happen.
So we plugged away with the dinner. Nancy D set the table with the china and silver, although I drew the line at the crystal, which has to be hand washed. I pushed forward with cooking and assembly, and we did it! The dinner was simpler than some years, but it was still very good. Everyone always comes away from the evening with a favorite dish from the dinner. Several of us cited this one as our favorite. The salad is simultaneously fresh and satisfying. It could easily become an entree with the addition of a bit of chicken or tofu, and I am absolutely keeping this recipe in our rotation!
- 1/4 cup crunchy style natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup coconut cream (from the top of the can)
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 lime, juiced
Place in a medium microwave safe dish. Stir together as much as possible. Cook on high for 1 minute. Stir and repeat in 30 second bursts until the sauce is homogenous. Taste and add additional fish sauce if desired.
- 1 bag baby spinach leaves
- 1 medium cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into moons
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced (increase to 1/diner if you are serving this as a main course)
- Rice crackers
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Assemble the salad by placing the spinach at the center and surrounding this with the cucumber, carrot, egg slices, peanut sauce, and lime. Sprinkle with crushed rice crackers and enjoy!
