Cold Buckwheat Noodle Salad

Here is the recipe I used to help make dinner tonight. My hosts, Gretchen and KC, are on a gluten and dairy free diet, so I chose this cold noodle dish using buckwheat noodles and made sure to use wheat free soy sauce and tofu. I bought the wrong kind of sesame oil - I'm used to the Chinese kind, which is dark and very fragrant. We went to the local Whole Foods, where I only spotted a plain kind of sesame oil. I compensated by adding more soy sauce - but really, the flavor should come from the sesame. You can adjust the recipe by adding rice wine vinegar to the sauce, or even using meat instead of tofu (shrimp, beef, etc). Carrots also make a good addition, for health and color. You can substitute peas for the spinach. This dish is great in the summer when you want something cool and refreshing. It is also a colorful dish with the variety of vegetables.

Cold Sesame Noodles
Serves 4

16 oz (2 packages) buckwheat noodles (usually wheat free, but check ingredient list)
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1/3 cucumber, cut into thin strips
1 or 2 green onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
chopped ginger
sesame oil (dark kind)
soy sauce/tamari (wheat-free)
1 T sugar
spinach
salt and pepper
smoked tofu (or baked tofu if you can find one made with wheat-free soy sauce), sliced into fat strips
cilantro

1. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Do not overcook. Rinse immediately with cold water until noodles are cold. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with some sesame oil.
2. If you have plain tofu, heat it with some garlic, soy/tamari, salt and pepper to add flavor. Otherwise, just heat up the tofu in a skillet.
   
3. Optionally, you can cook the red pepper. Remove to bowl.
   
4. Heat the spinach in pan until wilted. Chop.
5. Heat 2 teaspoons sesame oil, chopped ginger and garlic over low heat. Remove from heat and add sugar and 2 T soy. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over noodles.
6. Combine tofu and other vegetables in bowl. Toss to mix.
7. Garnish with cilantro.