Tonight’s Dinner: Cold steak & noodle salad recipe

Noodles are delicious hearty additions to stir-fry and soups. But chilling and adding them to salads makes a nice alternative to the standard lettuce on those warm spring and summer evenings.

Cold noodle salads are often found in Asian themed restaurants as delicious lunch and dinner options. They’re often a nice alternative to the more standard lettuce salad and are hearty enough to be quite filling. However, I have never had a cold noodle salad because I prefer my noodles hot either by themselves, in soups or stir-fry.

But the other night I had some leftover steak and I wanted to do something besides make my usual steak sandwich. So, I thought about all those times I’d seen cold noodle salad on the menu and decided it was time to put my aversions aside and try it. I’m so glad I did. Even though the noodles were ice cold, the dressing with which I tossed them made them super flavorful and gave me a great base on which to put my leftover flank steak. I don’t know why I waited so long to try the cold noodle salad, but now that I see how easy and delicious it is, I’m going to make it a lot more often.

Cold steak & noodle salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 pound) tri-tip steak, grilled, cut into 1-inch cubes and chilled for at least an hour
• 8 ounces udon noodles
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 cups baby bok choy, chopped
• 1/2 cup shallot, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions; drain, shock with cold water and chill.
2. While the noodles chill, whisk together the cilantro, vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, lime juice, ginger, scallions and garlic in a medium bowl.
3. Transfer the cold noodles to a large serving bowl. Add the steak, bok choy and shallots to the bowl of noodles. Pour in the dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

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Other noodle recipes

Chilled sesame peanut noodles

Rice noodles with Asian pesto

Soba noodles with shrimp, snow peas & carrots