Japanese Udon Noodles with Grilled Salmon
Back home there was this amazing little cafe called A La Carte that I used to frequent. I even worked there for a while on Saturday's just because I loved the place so much and knew I could learn a thing or two from the owner and kitchen staff. I only worked there on Saturday's because I had a full-time corporate job. In addition to the cafe, A La Carte had a crazy busy catering business. The menu, which was a chalk board, would change daily although they did have the usual popular items everyday. This chalk board hung on the wall behind the counter and listed all of the specials, soup of the day, sandwiches, salads and even displayed a little art work. The board was really cute - everything written in different colors and often had special quotes or sayings. All of the food and pastry items were displayed in several glass cases. There was also a lot of specialty foodie items that you just couldn't find anywhere else - things like a special kind of tea or lemonade mix, some sort of jam or jelly, all kinds of odd-shaped dry pasta....... just an endless amount of specialty foodie items. The food was always beautifully displayed and garnished not to mention delicious! There were a few freezers in the front of the place that was full of packaged meals, soups and sauces for those customers that just wanted to grab something on the go. The cafe was near the Metro train station and would get a lot of customers stopping in daily just to get something fresh or frozen for dinner. One of my favorites was a dish called Asian Sesame Noodles. It was a cold dish made with Japanese Udon Noodles and it was soooo good! I finally had to make my own version after A La Carte closed. I make this dish pretty often. You can eat the noodles cold or warm, alone or serve them with a piece of grilled salmon, a seared tuna steak or even a chicken breast. Just make sure to save some of the sauce to marinate your protein and to drizzle over your finished dish!
Ingredients
- 2-8oz salmon filets
- 4 oz Japanese udon noodles
- 1/3 cup plus 1 TBS sesame oil divided
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 TBS honey or agave
- a dash of fish sauce (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger grated or minced
- a dash of crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp of toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 In a small dry saute pan, add sesame seeds and toast until nice and fragrant. Be careful not to burn. Set aside for use later
- Step 2 Cook the Udon noodles according to package directions, rinse, drain and set aside
- Step 3 In a medium-sized bowl add the sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, fish sauce, garlic, scallions, ginger, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Mix to combine. Adjust seasoning if necessary
- Step 4 In a ziplock bag add the salmon and a few TBS of the sesame sauce to marinate in the fridge for no more than an hour
- Step 5 Add the drained Udon noodles to a bowl and toss with about 1/4 cup of the sesame sauce. Store in the fridge for later, unless you want to serve warm or at room temp
- Step 6 Add 1 TBS of sesame oil to a grill pan, heat on medium-high and add both salmon filets and cook for about 4 minutes on each side. If you do not have a grill pan, a regular large saute pan will work just fine
- Step 7 To plate, spread Udon noodles on a plate or serving dish and top with cooked salmon filets. Drizzle additional sesame sauce on top and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds
