Don’t you wish you had a go-to recipe for a cool meal you could make ahead and serve either hot or cold to your guests? Well, let me tell you about my Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Roasted Eggplant Noodles recipe with the wonderful Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Dressing & Marinade. This dressing & marinade is so rich and flavorful, it is so much more than a salad dressing! I was able to make this amazing main course dish in practically no time, because “dresser”/owner/creator Vanessa Miller has done all the work for you. Full of garlic, sesame and red chili spice, this is a dream to work with and makes a delicious spicy vegan meal!
Vanessa was a NYC school teacher who loved to entertain large groups of friends and family in her Manhattan apartment, much like her Tunisian mother did when she was growing up here. At those gatherings, Vanessa would fill a buffet table with tons of food and many different salad dressings. Her friends raved and encouraged her to go public with them. So she quit her teaching job, pooled all her resources and started Get Dressed Salads!! Now, she has five flavors and is working on expanding her distribution.
Her husband, a commercial real estate broker, happened to bring one of his clients to our space, as we were moving out of our offices and noticed our boxes – and that’s how we met! He’s a sweetheart, always on the lookout for placement of his wife’s products.
This recipe of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation Roasted Eggplant Noodles is just perfect for a complete meatless meal. Buy smaller eggplants that are super fresh and firm and chop into the 1/2” cubes and roast for only the 15 minutes as you don’t want them to be mushy. I only added the red pepper to roast for 5 minutes because I wanted that to be a bit crisp. You could also add matchsticks of seedless cucumbers as a topping if you’d like, along with the chopped peanuts, scallions and cilantro.
I served this warm when I first made it, but eating the leftovers cold is just as yummy, maybe even better, so you could make this a day ahead and relax the day you’re serving.
Make this soon, with LOVE! It’s so easy!
GET DRESSED SESAME SENSATION ROASTED EGGPLANT NOODLES – serves 6
1 lb. eggplant – 2 small ones are better than 1 large, chopped into 1/2” cubes
1 red pepper, cut into ½” squares
1 cup of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation, divided
1 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
3 scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 lb. spaghettini
Coarse sea salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta.
Cut the eggplant into ½” cubes and toss with ½ cup of Get Dressed Sesame Sensation salad dressing in a bowl. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes while you prepare the red pepper squares, shell and chop the peanuts, wash and chop the cilantro and slice the scallions.
Turn the marinated eggplant out onto a parchment covered rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, add the red pepper squares to the eggplant, tossing to mix and coat with the dressing and then roast both for 5 more minutes. The eggplant should be crisp tender and the red pepper should be slightly crisp.
While the vegetables are still roasting, salt the boiling pasta water, generously with coarse sea salt to taste like the ocean. Cook the pasta. Start testing at 2 minutes less than the least amount of time stated on the package.
Meanwhile, pour the remaining ½ cup of dressing in a wide pasta bowl. Add in the soy sauce and two vinegars and whisk together.
Drain the cooked al dente pasta and add to the sauce in the bowl along with the roasted eggplant and red pepper, scraping all the juices off of the parchment, tossing with tongs to coat thoroughly.
Serve in wide soup bowls, topped with the chopped scallions, peanuts and cilantro, with a squeeze of fresh lime over all. The lime is so great! Just the right spark of acid.
Enjoy!!
