Soba Noodle Salad

From Dish Danielle:

While out of town spending some chillax time at a friend’s childhood home earlier this summer, we were completely spoiled with leisure time — someone else was doing the cooking, there was time to sleep in, to read and drink coffee with our feet up, to take catnaps in the middle of the day. It was lovely, and just what the doctor ordered. Not only were we treated to a batch of delicious gin cocktails (rhubarb simple syrup anyone…!?!?), but we also had a killer meal that was perfectly summer: light, zesty, and fresh. Thanks Abby!

Abby’s summer sobas. I knew I’d be recreating this as soon as I got back to Brooklyn, and so I did for one of our first BBQ’s of the season.

*this recipe has been adapted from Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi

Ingredients:
1 package of soba noodles
1 ripe yet firm mango, peeled and sliced.
1 large eggplant, salt sweated & cut into 1” cubes
small bunch radishes, sliced thin
½ bunch of carrots, sliced thin.
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 bunch kale, cleaned and chiffonaded
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned, pruned and rough chopped
salted pistachios, rough chopped
¼-½ c sesame oil
¼c seasoned soy sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp yuzu paste
1½ lime, zested & juiced
agave nectar
salt
sesame seeds

Start by bringing a medium pot of water to boil. While you’re waiting, take care of chopping your radishes, carrots, and onion. Place in a bowl with your chiffonaded kale and set aside. Slice your mango as you like—Abby did long thin slices and I followed suit. Once the water is boiling cook noodles according to the directions on the package—be sure not to overcook them as they cook very quickly and become mushy if left unattended.


Once the noodles are cooked, strain and run them under cold water until they’re cool. Drizzle with a dash of sesame oil to prevent them from sticking together and set aside. Now cook your eggplant. If you have a cast iron, use that. Place it over a medium-med high flame. Leave the pan dry and pan sear them one batch at a time until they’re finished. You want to hot pan to leave grill marks on the eggplant.


Set the cooked eggplant on a paper towel to cool/dry out. Now make your dressing — which some of you might notice is eerily similar to the dressing I used on my ‘Sprouts for a Crowd’ post I wrote a several months back… (It’s the same!) I never did get Abby’s exact recipe so I improvised with what I had.

In a small bowl mix the oil, soy sauce, minced garlic, yuzu paste, zest & juice of the lime, a small squeeze of agave and a pinch of salt thoroughly with a fork or small whisk. Taste & tweak of course. You’re almost done.

Now toss everything into a large bowl including the cilantro, pistachios & sesame seeds (a decent handful I’d say..) and toss thoroughly, making sure the dressing is evenly coating the entire salad.


This is absolutely a meal in and of itself. Serve on a piping hot summer evening and cool off with some cold noodles.

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Panzanella, ala late summer

From Dish Danielle:

I have been enjoying the heck out of this summer’s bounty of luscious peaches. So much so that I almost forgot about the other late summer gem…the heirloom tomato… Duh Florio! To make up for lost time I set out to make a salad, with both of these precious items— and decided to add corn too—for good late summer measure.

I intend to enjoy these fabulous amorphous fruits in the coming weeks as summer exhausts its final days. I highly encourage you to grab your nearest (saucy little) salad dish, and do the same…

Serves 4, entrée salad portions

Ingredients:
medium loaf of crusty rustic bread, cut into 1’’ cubes, about 4c worth (I used a ‘peasant’ loaf)
2 ripe heirloom tomatoes, sliced however you’d like
1 white peach, sliced
½ regular peach, sliced
2 ears of corn, kernels sliced off raw
4 shallots, sliced THIN
½ a hot house cucumber, sliced thin
handful of fresh basil, minced
handful of fresh parsley, minced
3 c or so arugula
1/3c pine nuts
¼ c red wine vinegar
tsp lemon zest
1 scant tbsp lemon juice
1 large garlic clove, grated
1 ½ tsp dijon mustard
few squirts agave nectar
¼-1/3 c high quality extra virgin olive oil
1 c grated parmesan, to finish.

Set oven to 300. Toss bread cubes with a few healthy dashes of olive oil and S&P. Toss onto baking sheet and toast for 5-7 minutes. You want them to crisp, but not solid. Remove and set aside.

Mix heirlooms, peaches, corn, shallots, cucumber & fresh herbs together in bowl. Place the arugula in bottom of salad bowl you intend to serve from. (use wide/ shallow one if you have). Layer bread cubes over arugula. Layer tomato/peach/corn mixture atop bread. Sprinkle pine nuts over salad.

Now compose your salad’s dress: In a mug combine vinegar, zest, lemon juice, grated garlic, mustard, agave, olive oil and S&P. Whisk vigorously with fork. Add generous pinch of parmesan. Whisk again. Taste. Add more of any ingredient as you see fit. If it’s too acidic—hit it with agave. Pour dressing over salad and toss gently. Top with the grated parm.

Let the dressing sit for a few minutes before serving, allowing the breadcrumbs to absorb the deliciousness of late summer. Then it’s your turn.

*You might not need the whole mug of dressing—especially if you’ve modified and made a smaller salad. Pour half on and see if you’d like to add more. *

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