We are (very) slowly starting to settle in to our new house. The pile of unpacked boxes in the dining room is dwindling, and things are starting to find homes. I built a little herb garden, not exactly a priority as far as house projects go but something that I’ve been looking forward to since we decided to buy a house. Yesterday we caved and bought a mini-fridge to tide us over until our real fridge is available, and a chilled glass of lemonade in this 95° heat is already worth the cost of the fridge, in my book. Trevor ripped out some of the old cabinets and replaced them with gorgeous industrial-style pine shelves, and we now have a plan to make the kitchen usable for the next 12 months or so while we save up to truly remodel it. Things are still a little chaotic, but they’re looking up.

With a few surfaces cleared and cleaned, at least a little cold storage, and a place to store our groceries, we’re easing back into cooking.  The very first meal was a package of frozen tortellini and a jar of tomato sauce. Gourmet, I know. Last night we were more ambitious and fired up the grill for sausage, peppers, and onions, along with grilled corn on the cob. Today, I’ve managed to have all my meals at home – cereal (ice cold milk, what a delicious thing!), tomato-lentil-couscous, and now, this Smoked Salmon Soba Bowl. Because there are still a number of kitchen tools we haven’t unearthed, and because we’re just starting to build up a new pantry, I needed to keep this meal super simple, and it is. The only cooking is to boil the soba noodles and edamame, then the noodles get tossed with a 5-ingredient dressing, and topped with smoked salmon, avocado, and pickled ginger. Simple, healthy, and full of flavor. And there’s something supremely satisfying about slurping cold, nutty noodles straight from the bowl when it’s too hot to think. Enjoy, and stay cool!

Smoked Salmon Soba Bowl

A quick and easy summer dinner, delicious served at room temperature or chilled. I make this with store-bought hot-smoked salmon, making it even easier to get dinner on the table.

Dressing adapted from this Sprouted Kitchen recipe. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Prep Time: 15m
• Cook Time: 10m
• Total Time: 14 minute
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. tahini
• 2 TBS honey
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS sesame oil
• 1 TBS rice wine vinegar
• 8 oz. soba noodles, cooked according to package directions
• 1 c. shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions
• 1 avocado, pitted and cut into cubes
• 8 oz. hot-smoked salmon
• 1 oz. pickled ginger slices
• sesame or poppy seeds for garnish

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together tahini, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar until smooth. Taste and adjust flavors to your liking. Set aside.
2. Toss the prepared soba noodles with the edamame and the dressing. Chill until ready to serve. To serve, divide noodles between plates and top with avocado cubes, pieces of salmon, pickled ginger, and sesame or poppy seeds.

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My shelf in the fridge is kind of a disaster right now. There’s leftover tamarind and palm sugar from three batches of Pad Thai, dark mushroom soy sauce and Chinese broccoli from Gong Bao Chicken, tahini from Roasted Carrot and Tahini soup, failed grapefruit and ginger bars (a precursor to these cookies) that I don’t want to eat but can’t bring myself to throw out… it’s crowded in there. I love having all these fun condiments available, but when you’re sharing a fridge with four people (read: four bottles of milk, four cartons of eggs, four bottles of soy sauce, etc.) it can feel like they’re taking up room for real food. You know, like vegetables, and chicken. The fridge situation is complicated by the fact that tonight, I’m getting my first delivery from Blue Apron, with ingredients for 3 delicious meals that will also need to make their way into the fridge. Conundrum.

So when I was thinking about what to make for Greatist this week, I knew it couldn’t require anything that wasn’t already in my fridge/freezer/pantry. As I thought about it, I realized that this is a way I should try to eat more often – using up what I have instead of always running out to get something new in order to make something just so. It’s less wasteful. So I mixed up a delicious tahini, soy sauce, and honey sauce, marinated some chicken I had waiting in the freezer in it, added some blanched Chinese broccoli, and cooked it all up in a frying pan with rice. It came out amazing – sweet and salty and satisfying – and just goes to show you that a good sauce can go a long way! Head on over to Greatist for the recipe – and feel free to use it as a blueprint for using up whatever you have languishing in your fridge.

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