Asian Noodle Salad

I must say that I think this blog has put some pressure on my loved ones to impress me whenever they are cooking a meal - and while part of me feels bad.... the other part of me kind of enjoys watching my mom get dressed up to cook - Terrified that I will be snapping some pictures of her. That being said, our carefree outing to our summer home on Lake George turned into Top Chef. When we arrived at camp I expected to be eating hot dogs and burgers, until my mom informed me that we would be having Asian noodle salad, salmon, and grilled vegetables - If that doesn't scream lakeside barbecue I don't know what does.

Lake House 

Veggies that never got grilled :(

I began helping my mom prepare and marinade the veggies, and just as we were finishing, my dad casually mentioned that he would be throwing out the grill because it was completely unusable due to the beating it had taken during the winter months. Naturally, my mother was upset because she had already cut up all the veggies, and had bought "grill" food - i.e. salmon. So, we had to come up with plan b. Instead of grilling the salmon we would poach it, and incorporate it into the Asian salad.

For the Salmon - 

We seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper, and since we didnt' have any olive oil, we heated a pot with some water, garlic & sesame oil, and let the salmon cook in the liquid.

Some of the yummy ingredients in the salad

For the Asian Noodle Salad-

1 package of chinese noodles (we used LoMein)

1/4 cup of Soy sauce

2 tbsp Toasted Sesame oil

1 tbsp honey

1 clove of minced garlic

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 small package of snap peas, julienned

1 lemon, juiced

fresh basil leaves
(approximate measurements)

For the noodles, cook per package instructions for al dente pasta. Whenever you are cooking pasta for pasta salad you want to make sure that it is slightly undercooked. When the pasta has finished cooking, remove from heat, strain, and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Keep in the strainer while you are preparing the rest so that the excess water can completely drain out. In the mean time, add a little sesame oil to the noodles to prevent clumping.






Boil water and flash cook the snap peas so that they are still crunchy. Run under cold water, and then julienne.

Mom mixing together the dressing

In a separate bowl, mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, minced garlic, grated ginger, lime, and basil (just a couple leaves chopped).


Add the dressing and distribute evenly over the noodles. After, add the snap peas and salmon. This can be served cold (by refrigerating until ready) or warm (by serving immediately). We ate it warm because of the salmon, but if you leave the salmon off you can cool it first and eat later.

This could be served as an entree or an appetizer. If you want to serve as an entree I would double everything and serve warm. As an appetizer you could leave off the salmon and just serve it cold. To customize it a little you could also add shredded carrots (I think this was my mom's intention, however some of the ingredients didn't make it from our kitchen in Niskayuna to our Lake George one ... oops). Either way, it took no time to make and ended up being a nice snack to hold us over until dinner. 

Asian Chicken Salad with Salmon