Ina Garten’s Asian Salmon and Crunchy Noodle Salad

Asian Salmon and Crunchy Noodle Salad
These two recipes are from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa show on Food Network. I LOVE watching Ina’s show, but I am actually pretty surprised to admit that this is the first time that I’ve tried one of her recipes. For as many time as I’ve watched her show, that really is kind of unbelievable.

So, the salad was an absolute success. I substituted whole wheat udon noodles for the spaghetti because, well…just because and I substituted black sesame seeds for the white ones because I think they’re prettier. I left out the parsley because it just didn’t seem “right” to me. If I had had some cilantro in the house, I would have added that, but I (strangely, for me) didn’t have any in the house, so I just left the chopped herb garnish off. Cilantro would have been really nice. This salad could easily adapt to whatever Asian (-ish) veggies you might have on hand: broccoli, water chestnuts, bok choy, snow peas, edamame, etc. It was delicious, as is, but wouldn’t have to be made exactly the same way. I also cut the amount of vegetable oil to 3/4 cup because 1 cup just seemed like SO much. I don’t like things that are really oily. My dressing may have been a little richer as a result (higher percentage of peanut butter), but it was perfect. Another 1/4 cup of oil would have been too much. If you’re calorie conscious, you could probably get away with leaving off the last 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the dressing (add some vinegar and a bit more oil and the remaining dressing would be GREAT on an Asian chicken salad). It was plenty “saucy.”
The salmon? Well…I think I did something wrong. I’m used to thinking of panko as being crunchy and this salmon, after being doused with the (delicious but waaaaaay too salty for my taste) sauce, was just, well…soggy. The flavors were still good and the amount of sauce that soaked into the fish itself was perfect, but the sauce-soggy bread topping was just too wet and salty for me, but Hubby loved it, so make of that what you will. Boy loved it, but he, too, scraped off the breadcrumbs.
So, the salad? A make-again. The salmon? Probably not in its current incarnation, but with some adaptations, maybe.