Soba salad with avocado, pickled cucumbers and shiso dressing

Lately, I can’t seem to follow any kind of rhythm when it comes to making dinner. I usually have a grain or a bean soaking as a starting point to help guide our meals but for some reason, I keep forgetting to soak anything or is it that I’m refusing to follow even the vaguest of meal plans? When, seemingly suddenly, dinner time arrives, soba noodles have been my savior—I grew up eating them and to my surprise my children love them too. They’re surprisingly satisfying even when eaten very plainly. For the kids I toss the warm noodles with olive oil and tamari, and we eat them with a green salad and or steamed vegetables and maybe a jammy boiled egg on the side. It’s the quickest, easiest dinner that they dub “noodle the poodle” after a dog in the Hairy Maclary children’s book series that’s getting its second life through Theo.

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When recently discovering my shiso plant coming up in the garden and inhaling it’s unusual scent, I was reminded of how good the pungent, minty herb tastes with these salad ingredients. The earthy soba noodles paired with bright rice-vinegar-pickled cucumber, fresh ginger, tamari and toasted sesame all mellowed out by large slices of creamy avocado—it’s makes for a delicious warm wether meal. After a very chilly and wet spring I am more than ready for meals that can be served room temperature.

Don’t forget I’ll be making the Chive + Feta muffins with Sweet Corn live this Sunday, May 31st @10:30am EST. Please join me and as always bring your cooking questions.

Amy, xo

PS. I enjoyed doing this interview over on Well Nourished last week. Thank you Lauren!

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RECIPE NOTES:

Soba noodles are usually made with a combination of buckwheat and wheat flour. 100% buckwheat noodles are gluten free. They are stickier and can clump when cooking so I like to help keep things moving with a long chopstick when boiling them. I really like these buckwheat and brown rice noodles too (pictured above).

Shiso, also known as perilla, is a member of the mint family. Find shiso at farmer’s markets in summer through early fall, at Japanese grocery stores or grow your own.

Soba salad with avocado, pickled cucumbers and shiso dressing

Serves 4 to 6

Pickled cucumbers:

2 medium to large Persian cucumbers

3 tablespoons brown rice vinegar

Sea salt

Dressing:

2 tablespoons tamari, plus more to taste

2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar

1 small clove garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons peeled and finely grated ginger

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

10 shiso leaves, plus more to garnish

Salad:

1 8oz pack soba noodles

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 ripe avocadoes

Toasted black sesame seeds to garnish

Pickle the cucumbers:

Shave the cucumbers on a mandolin or cut them as fine as possible, you should have about 2 cups. Place them in a bowl and add rice vinegar and a large pinch of salt, mix to combine and set aside.

Make the dressing:

In a small bowl combine tamari, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger. Drizzle in oils and mix well. Stack the shiso leaves and roll them up tightly, then finely slice them into thin strips. Stir them into the dressing.

Make the salad:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add noodles and cook according to the package directions. Drain, rinse thoroughly with cold water and drain again. Place noodles in a large bowl, drizzle with dressing and mix until evenly combined. Add cucumber pickles and their juice and mix again, season to taste with sea salt or tamari. Add scallions and avocado and gently toss to combine. Season to taste and garnish with black sesame seeds and shiso leaves.

This salad was originally developed for the Food Network’s Healthy Eats Blog.