Smoked Salmon Salad with Scallops

My friends who live in Australia also live in my heart: I truly miss them! Don, Bev, Jenny, Meredith, Christine, Helen, Dee, Patrick, Lyn … this satisfying summer salad is for you, Dollinks! For sure, you’ll find it refreshing on a hot day! My friends who live in Canada and the U.S. live in my heart, as well. It may not be summer in the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where You Live, but the noodles in this simple salad are just the thing to fill you up on a cold winter’s day! I had a fat chunk of hot-smoked salmon and four large scallops in my freezer; that’s how I came to make this. Substituting leftover roast beef would be delicious, too. Depending on your serving size, this salad does nicely for lunch or dinner.

Smoked Salmon Salad with Scallops:

½ lb. (250 g) thin chow mein-style noodles

¼ c. rice vinegar

2 tbsp. soy sauce

4 tsp. fresh ginger root, slivered

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. granulated sugar

½ tsp. chili flakes

1 c. julienned (matchstick size) carrots

1 c. fresh snow peas, ends snipped

1 red bell pepper (“capsicum”), cut lengthwise into strips and halved

½-to-¾ lb. chunk of smoked salmon

4-to-6 large scallops or 12 small scallops

¼ c. toasted sesame seeds

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add noodles, cooking just until tender (with the noodles I used, this took about 2 min.). Drain. Rinse noodles under cold running water until well chilled. Drain well and set aside. In a large bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger root, sesame oil, garlic, sugar, and chili flakes. Snip cooked noodles roughly in half. Add to bowl and toss well. In a pot of boiling water, cook julienned carrots and whole snow peas until tender-crisp, exactly 1 min. Rinse under cold running water. Drain and blot with paper towel. Add to noodles. Steam smoked salmon and scallops just until cooked through, about 5 min. Cut salmon into coarse chunks; quarter large scallops or use small scallops whole. Add warm seafood to salad, tossing to combine well. Transfer to salad bowl and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serves 6 for lunch and 4 for as a main course for dinner.

Drain hot noodles

Rinse with cold water; set aside to drain well

Save carrot tops and peelings for the stock pot!

Julienne carrots for salad

Snip ends of snow peas; saves these bits for stock pot, too!

Briefly plunge snow peas and carrots into boiling water;
blot dry with paper towel

Wash and seed red bell pepper before cutting into strips

In large bowl, combine ingredients for sauce

Add noodles and ...

Toss, toss, toss! 

In go the chilled vegetables

Chop the seafood

Add it, too!

Present with a flourish of toasted sesame seeds