Cold Soba Noodles: Nigella's Potluck Possibility

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Aug 26th 2007 @ 1:09PM

cold soba noodles with sesame seeds in a vintage bowl

I have every one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks, but I hardly ever actually cook out of them. They have beautiful pictures and the narratives she writes prior to each recipe are always really fun to read, but something always prevents me from actually making the recipes. However, for every rule there is also an exception. I make "her" cold Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds all the time (obviously Nigella didn't actually invent this dish, but she gives nice measurements for the accompanying sauce).

The recipe is in Forever Summer (on page 48 to be exact) and that page in my book is splattered and marked due to repeated use. I should probably just write down the measurements for the dressing on a notecard and leave the book on the shelf, but time after time I turn to it just to ensure that I'm using the correct proportions. This is an especially great party or potluck dish, because it's a little different from your standard pasta salad. People always think it was much more complicated than it actually was. Oh, and the leftovers are out of this world good. Because I like you guys, the recipe is after the jump.

Photo by Marisa McClellan

Nigella's Cold Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt
8 ounces soba noodles
2 teaspoons rice vinegar (the sweetened kind is just fine)
5 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey (I use buckwheat honey for a little added depth of flavor, but any variety works)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
5 scallions

Toasted the sesame seeds in a dry pan over a high heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to package instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining*.

In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the scallions and put them into the bowl with the cooled drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again.

Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavors develop, although this is not absolutely necessary or sometimes even possible. Serves 4 as part of a meal; or 2 when eaten, gratifyingly, as they are.

*I readily admit that I always skip this step, as I like to avoid having another dish to wash. I dump them into a colander and just run cold a water over them for a moment or two.

Filed Under: Real Kitchens, Ingredients, Books
Tags: cold soba noodles, dinner, lunch, Nigella Lawson, NigellaLawson, potluck possibility, real kitchens, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-26-2007 @2:57PM andrea Klotzsche said... cold soba noodles are the perfect summertime food!
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8-26-2007 @5:38PM mek said... This is, for me as well, the only Nigella recipe I have ever known.
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8-26-2007 @7:17PM Hub said... God I love this dish. I make it all the time.
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8-26-2007 @11:14PM Wendy said... I make a gingered soba noodle salad that is similar to this. It may have originated from epicurious.com, but I let the exact amounts of the recipe and ingredients go a while ago since it always comes out good. I use soba noodles made with yam since they seem to be yummier than others. The dressing has ginger juice (grate ginger and squeeze out the juice, discard the fibrous parts) one crushed clove of garlic, sesame oil to taste, soy sauce, sushi vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, chopped scallions and some shredded nori (can be bought already shredded, or thinly slice a sheet of nori.
I guess the only variations from Nigella are the ginger juice, nori and garlic.

When I make this for a potluck I cook 4 bunches of soba and there are rarely leftovers.

I actually just looked it up and the recipe here is the link for the recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/13247

I have added a few things to it, but no matter what it is always tasty. The marinade is also really good on tofu.
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8-27-2007 @8:40AM marygrace said... i use this sauce recipe ALL the time! my favorite variation on the recipe is swapping the soba noodles for whole wheat pasta shells and adding shelled edamame. the shells end up holding the soybeans and it is really fun to eat. i also often pour this sauce over vegetables while sauteeing them. so good!
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8-27-2007 @1:59AM Jaden said... YUM...will have this for lunch tomorrow
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8-27-2007 @6:57AM Colin said... Nigella is fun just to read as a bedtime book. She is so eloquent with her words.
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8-27-2007 @11:55AM rachel b. said... My soba always comes out mushy.
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8-27-2007 @2:08PM Karen said... Nigella's recipes have always done well by me. Another favorite of ours is the Lemon Pasta (or maybe it's Lemon Linguini) recipe from one of her earlier cookbooks. It's become a summer standard for us - light and tangy and a perfect side dish for grilled chicken or pork.
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8-27-2007 @2:24PM Adriane said... her recipes actually do come out quite well...I made a chocolate-raspberry pavlova from her recipe some weeks ago that was deeelicious. Not that pavlova is particular difficult..but still!
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