Sesame Noodles with Broccolini, Sweet Potato and Tuscan Kale

Raw vegetables replace meat, adding texture and flavor to this savory vegetarian dish.

This tasty noodle dish is loaded with good-for-you vegetables, powerful seasonings, and lots of flavor. It is filling and satisfying, combining many of the foods associated with longevity into one delicious vegetarian dish.

Sweet potatoes are a super food due to their high levels of flavonoids, vitamin c, fiber, carotenoids, and slow-burning carbohydrates. The Okinawan imo is a purple variety of sweet potato that is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. It makes up a large part of the diet enjoyed in Okinawa, Japan, which is home to the women with the World’s greatest longevity.

This dish also contains Tuscan kale – a cabbage family descendant with its own unique health benefits. Kale contains sulforaphane, a compound with antioxidant and antibacterial properties that may help to prevent prostate, colon, and stomach cancers. It also provides protective benefits to the heart, helps the lungs eliminate toxins, and boosts liver detoxification.

Another member of the cabbage family, broccolini is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale. It is less fibrous than its more well known cousins, and can be eaten stem to flower. Dark, leafy greens are linked to many health benefits associated with longevity, all the more reason to make them a big part of your diet.

This recipe gets supercharged with garlic and ginger. Garlic is not just flavorful, it is packed with medicinal benefits. Used for centuries to help ward off colds, garlic has potent antibacterial and antiviral properties It also stimulates the immune system. To get the full health benefits from garlic, let it rest for 10 minutes after being chopped, and before cooking. Allicin is the sulphur containing compound that gives garlic its pungent flavor and medicinal punch. By letting cut garlic rest, and adding it late in the cooking process, you can preserve its content of disease fighting allicin.

Ginger is also loaded with medicinal benefits, and gives this dish flavor and a touch of heat. Ginger has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine as a stimulant for the respiratory and digestive systems and is well known for its powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Ginger is also delicious.

This super foods packed recipe is a one-dish wonder you will want to enjoy for lunches and dinners. It can be served chilled or at room temperature, and is easily made ahead of time.

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Sesame Noodles with Sweet Potato, Broccolini and Tuscan Kale Recipe

Raw vegetables replace meat, adding texture and flavor to this savory vegetarian dish.

Course Entree, Salad, Vegetables

Keyword broccolini, buckwheat soba noodles, kale, mint, peanut sauce, sesame seeds, sweet potatoes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 bunch broccolini cleaned bottom of stems trimmed, sliced in half lengthwise and crosswise
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 Tbs. spicy peanut sauce
• 1/2 cup sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil plus another 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbs. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 3 scallions green parts thinly sliced
• 1 3" piece ginger peeled and grated
• 4 cups Tuscan kale leaves cleaned and chopped
• 1/2 cup torn fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
• 1 large sweet potato peeled cut in half lengthwise, then cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 8oz package buckwheat soba

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss broccoli and sweet potato slices in a bowl with half the chopped garlic, and 1/4 cup olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
2. Roast vegetables in preheated oven, turning after 10 minutes. Vegetables are done when tender and starting to brown.
3. Mix scallions, ginger, remaining garlic, 1 tsp salt, freshly ground pepper, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 Tbs. sesame oil,1/2 cup vinegar and spicy peanut sauce in a large bowl, whisk well. Add kale leaves and toss to coat. Let rest while cooking noodles.
4. Cook noodles according to directions on package. Drain and rinse.
5. Toss noodles well with warm broccolini, sweet potatoes and dressed kale. Garnish with torn mint leaves and toasted sesame seeds.

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Kristen Coffield

I am a passionate advocate for food as medicine, life navigator and culinary coach. This is my space for sharing what excites, inspires and motivates me to live my best life. It began as a recipe blog for nourishing, simple, weekday meals and has become something much bigger… a guide to resilient wellness. I am excited to share my knowledge of how daily habits can cumulatively help you to live like you mean it and age like you want to.