I am tempted to just chop everything up and make a big salad with a little of everything in it – yes, raw corn, and YES, raw okra. And that will be dinner tonight. But eventually we’ll want something else, so I’ve got three ideas here – two from my go-to New York Times (cold noodles with tomatoes!) but one that was demonstrated at the Decatur Farmers Market. I have to say that I truly miss restaurant chef demos at local farmers markets. At once time that was a mainstay of the markets and always a source of creative inspiration … now they’re extremely rare, but the Community Farmers Market folks have local cooks who do demos most every week, and their recipes are perhaps a bit more practical and maybe easier to pull off.
Ingredients:
2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes, halved 2 teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) 12 to 14 ounces somyeon, somen, capellini or other thin wheat noodle 1/4 cup rice vinegar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 large garlic clove, finely grated 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 2 cups cold filtered water 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 2 radishes, thinly sliced 2 scallions, thinly sliced at an angle 2 cups crushed or cubed ice
Preparation:
In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes and salt. Let sit until juicy, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package instructions, drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, mustard and sesame oil to the tomatoes, and toss with a spoon until well combined. Stir the filtered water into the tomatoes and sprinkle the surface of the broth with the sesame seeds, radishes and scallions.
Right before serving, add the ice to the broth. Divide the noodles among bowls, and ladle in the broth and any unmelted ice, making sure each serving gets a nice sprinkling of tomatoes, radishes, scallions and sesame seeds.