Presto Pasta Night - Soba Noodle Salad

It's been quite hot here lately, and I've been trying to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. We get the afternoon and evening sun in our kitchen and living room, and as we don't have air conditioning, even turning on a burner on the stove is too much to bear.

I was rummaging thru the pantry, looking for something for dinner that required little or no cooking. At the back I found a package of Soba noodles that I vaguely remembered buying earlier this year. I've never had Soba noodles before, and after I bought them I wasn't really sure what to do with them. I thought I'd look them up on the Internet and then I forgot all about them.

Soba noodles are Japanese and made with Buckwheat flour. Because of the flour they have a sort of brown-grey color to them. My package contained 5 bundles of Soba.

Aren't they pretty? I looked online and saw a lot of recipes for cold noodle salads. I had also just rediscovered a bottle of sweet and spicy peanut sauce in the pantry as well, so I got cooking.

I used 3 bundles of noodles and cooked them in boiling water for 5 minutes. The noodles were drained and rinsed with cold water. I let them sit to drain again while I sliced a red pepper into thin strips and chopped up 4 green onions. I tossed the noodles and veggies in a bowl and added about 1/4 of a cup of sauce. The bowl went into the fridge for an hour or so until dinner. Then I re-tossed the noodles and added a couple more spoons of sauce.

This salad was wonderful. The only way I can think to describe these noodles is silky. The short amount of cooking time kept the kitchen somewhat cooler and the cold noodles were a very refreshing dinner. We'll be using these noodles again soon I am sure.

Ruth, I am sending this cold salad your way for Presto Pasta Nights. Hope you guys out East are staying cool. If not, go get some Soba!