Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

I always think of Thursdays as Nigella days since that's the day they air her cooking show on television. They are re-playing the episodes from Forever Summer which is great inspiration since the weather is so hot here. I love the way the episodes are colour coded and last week's "brown" episode got me going to the kitchen to make these wonderful noodles.

The noodles are so simple to make and taste so cool and inviting. I add lots of toasted sesame seeds and spring onions as I love their taste. You can have the noodles with some boiled/ steamed vegetables and some pan grilled salmon depending on what you fancy for that day. It keeps well too and usually I always make a little extra to keep in the fridge for the next day. Once you made this dish, you'll always keep some soba noodles and sesame seeds in your larder so you can have this anytime you want.

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds (from Forever Summer)

75g sesame seeds
salt
250g soba noodles
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
5 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons sesame oil
5 spring onions

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl. Take care you do not burn the seeds or else it will be bitter so monitor them closely.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to packet instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining.

In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the spring onions and put them into the bowl with the cooled, drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again. Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavours develop, although this is not absolutely necessary or sometimes even possible.

The portions serves two for dinner with a little leftover for lunch for one person.