Sunbutter Pasta Sauce

What is Sunbutter? Like peanut butter, or almond butter, Sunbutter is a creamy spread made from sunflower seeds. People with allergies to nuts can enjoy Sunbutter. It is awwwesome.
This sauce came about because a customer at Central Market asked to taste the sunbutter. Afterwards.. we had a whole jar left over.. so I offered to make a sauce with it, type up a recipe, and do a cooking demo for the customers. Thats how my job works :) pretty cool.

Sunbutter Pasta Sauce
2/3c Sunbutter
1 T soy sauce
½ c water (if necessary)
1/3 c coconut milk
1 ½ T fresh ginger
1/8 c lime juice
1 T sesame oil
1 t red pepper flakes
2-3 cloves garlic/6-8 cloves roasted garlic

½ lb linguine
2 colored bell peppers
scallions
red cabbage
sesame seeds

Throw all ingredients, prior to linguine, into a blender and combine until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add the water. The problem with noodles + a thick nut butter sauce is that you’d practically have to cut it with a knife and fork, because of the way it’ll coat the noodles. To prevent this, thin the sauce, and toss the noodles liberally in sesame oil (or whatever you have.) Reserve any leftover sauce in a separate container, because if you store it on the noodles, you’ll have the same problem.. it’ll be like glue. And you can use it later as a marinade! (check out my post about sunbutter tofu nuggets!)

Anyway, this is really a beautiful dish. My coworkers were thrilled. The colors were awesome. I am lucky to have 3 colors of sesame seeds available to me, the traditional white, the black, and a green one coated in wasabi. So pretty!

I find these veggies go really well with a nutty sauce. The only items I cooked was the noodles (duh) and the bell peppers. I lightly sautéed them, not too soft, but still with a crunch. The cabbage and scallions were diced up and thrown in fresh.