Chilled noodles for hot nights
The Bite subscribers can now join the conversation — click the speech bubble icon to leave a comment or click the heart to like this post. Last week, we talked about TV’s saddest picnic.This week, we’re back to recipes with three different, delicious chilled noodle dishes.
Lemons and more lemons (Ashlie Stevens)
After a week spent mostly horizontal, emerging from a stomach bug with little interest in food beyond the occasional cracker, I woke up one morning with a wonderfully specific realization: I wasn't just able to eat again. I was hungry. Properly, gloriously hungry.
Better yet, my appetite had opinions. It wanted cold noodles. Lots of them. Bright, lemony noodles. Creamy, pickle-y noodles. Slippery, savory noodles loaded with tomatoes and bacon. The sort of meals that require little more than a pot of boiling water, a sharp knife and a big bowl to toss everything together before retreating somewhere shady with a fork.
These three recipes are the result of that very happy return to craving. I hope they find their way to your picnic table, your back porch or your refrigerator shelf this summer—ready for those evenings when it's simply too hot to turn on the oven, but you're still hungry for something that tastes like the season.
Summer’s lemoniest pasta salad
Like seemingly everyone else, I've spent the past year trying to find practical ways to sneak a little more protein into my day. (No offense to the internet, but I simply cannot look at another eight-egg omelet.) Instead, I've become unexpectedly devoted to whipped cottage cheese. Give the old diner stalwart a quick whirl in the blender with a generous glug of olive oil, and it transforms into something entirely different: silky, billowy and spoonable, with just enough richness to stand in for cream without feeling remotely heavy.
That cloud of whipped cottage cheese is the secret foundation of what may be the lemoniest pasta salad in the world. It's blended with an almost unreasonable amount of lemon zest and juice before coating every ridge of cavatappi. Chilled sweet peas and ribbons of summer zucchini are tossed separately with olive oil, more lemon juice and handfuls of fresh herbs. Lemon-marinated chicken breast is cubed and folded in, while sweet onion gets a quick pickle in lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt until it loses its bite but keeps its snap.
The finished bowl is bright enough to make you sit up a little straighter. Creamy without being heavy, packed with herbs and unapologetically citrus-forward, it's the sort of pasta salad that tastes like someone turned the saturation up on summer itself.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
For the lemon chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, grated
Kosher salt and black pepper
For the whipped cottage cheese
1 cup full-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 1–2 lemons (about ¼ cup, or to taste)
1 small garlic clove
Kosher salt and black pepper
For the quick-pickled onion
½ small sweet onion, very finely diced
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the salad
12 ounces cavatappi
1½ cups frozen peas, thawed
1 medium zucchini, shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup chopped fresh dill
¼ cup chopped parsley
Freshly cracked black pepper
Flaky salt, for serving
Extra lemon zest, for finishing
Directions
Marinate the chicken. Stir together the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, a generous pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Coat the chicken and let it marinate for at least 20 minutes (or up to several hours in the refrigerator). Grill, roast or pan-sear until cooked through. Cool completely, then cut into bite-size cubes.
Pickle the onion. In a small bowl, combine the diced onion with the lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir well and let stand while you prepare the rest of the salad, giving it a stir now and then.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the cavatappi until just past al dente—you want it tender enough to stay pleasant once chilled. Drain and rinse briefly under cold water until no longer hot. Shake off as much water as possible.
Whip the dressing. In a blender or food processor, combine the cottage cheese, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic. Blend until completely smooth and silky. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Taste—it should be intensely lemony.
Dress the vegetables. In a large serving bowl, toss the peas and zucchini ribbons with the olive oil, lemon juice, dill and parsley. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Bring it all together. Add the cooled pasta, whipped cottage cheese, chicken and drained pickled onion to the bowl. Toss until every curl of pasta is glossy and coated. If the salad seems a little tight after chilling, loosen it with another drizzle of olive oil or a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Chill and serve. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. Finish with plenty of fresh lemon zest, more herbs and a pinch of flaky salt.
Notes
Reserve a few tablespoons of the pickling liquid from the onions. If the salad has been in the fridge overnight, a splash whisked in with a drizzle of olive oil wakes the whole thing back up.
BLT-inspired chilled noodles
Tomato and soy are one of those quietly brilliant flavor pairings that seem to pop up everywhere once you start looking for them. They're the backbone of everything from Chinese tomato-and-egg stir-fries to noodle dishes whose sauces taste deeper than the sum of their parts. The tomato brings sweetness and acidity; the soy contributes salt and savory depth. Together, they practically hum.
I borrowed that idea for these BLT-inspired chilled noodles. Rice noodles are tossed in a glossy dressing of tomato paste, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar and just enough Kewpie mayonnaise to give everything a silky sheen. Crisp bacon, juicy diced tomatoes and ribbons of shaved green cabbage get folded in at the end, where they stay cool, crunchy and unmistakably BLT-adjacent.
It's the sort of lunch that lands somewhere between a noodle salad and your favorite summer sandwich. Smoky, savory and bright all at once, it's especially good eaten straight from the fridge while standing in front of the open door, deciding whether you're actually hungry enough for a second bowl.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the dressing
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon Kewpie mayonnaise
1–2 teaspoons Sriracha (or your favorite chili sauce)
1 teaspoon honey or brown sugar (optional, to balance the acidity)
Freshly cracked black pepper
For the noodles
8 ounces rice noodles
8 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
2 cups very thinly shaved green cabbage
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Extra rice wine vinegar, to finish
Optional toppings
Toasted sesame seeds
Extra Sriracha
Cilantro or basil
Thinly sliced cucumber
Directions
Cook the noodles. Prepare the rice noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water until completely chilled. Shake off as much water as possible and set aside.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Kewpie and Sriracha until smooth. If it feels a little thick, whisk in a tablespoon or two of cold water until it reaches the consistency of a pourable dressing. Taste and add the honey if your tomatoes aren't especially sweet.
Dress the noodles. Add the chilled noodles to the bowl and toss until every strand is evenly coated in the tomato dressing.
Add the BLT. Fold in the chopped bacon, diced tomatoes, cabbage and scallions. Season with a pinch of kosher salt (keeping in mind the bacon and soy are already salty) and several generous grinds of black pepper.
Wake it up. Finish with another splash of rice wine vinegar and toss once more. That last hit of acid is what makes the tomatoes pop and keeps the whole bowl tasting bright instead of heavy.
Chill or serve. You can eat it immediately, but it's even better after 20 to 30 minutes in the refrigerator, when the noodles have a chance to absorb some of the dressing. Finish with sesame seeds, more Sriracha or fresh herbs, if you'd like.
Pickled Green Goddess macaroni salad
The question that started this pasta salad was wonderfully unserious: What if Green Goddess dressing got pickled? Not pickle-flavored, exactly. Pickled. So before anything goes into the blender, all those verdant dressing ingredients — parsley, dill, chives, basil, cilantro, tarragon, whatever herbs are threatening to wilt in your crisper drawer — take a quick bath in dill pickle brine. Even the garlic gets to join the party.
From there, it's classic Green Goddess by way of the supermarket deli. The herbs are blended with Greek yogurt, good mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice and, because we're fully committing to the bit, a dill pickle or two. (Pickle-maxxing, if you ask the internet.) The result is improbably green, deeply herby and just tangy enough to keep you going back for another forkful.
Fold the dressing through elbow macaroni, then lean into the nostalgia. Cubes of sharp white cheddar bring that unmistakable Midwestern deli-counter energy, while chopped cucumber, snap peas, shaved celery and scallions keep everything cool and crunchy.
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the pickled Green Goddess dressing
1 packed cup mixed fresh herbs (any combination of parsley, dill, basil, cilantro, tarragon and chives)
1 garlic clove
⅓ cup dill pickle juice
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup good mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
2 dill pickles
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
For the salad
12 ounces elbow macaroni
6 ounces sharp white cheddar, cut into small cubes
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup chopped sugar snap peas
2 celery stalks, thinly shaved
3 scallions, thinly sliced
Extra chopped fresh dill, for finishing
Directions
Give the herbs a pickle bath. Combine the herbs and garlic in a small bowl with the dill pickle juice. Let them soak for 10 to 15 minutes while the pasta cooks. It doesn't take long—the herbs will stay bright but pick up an extra layer of tangy, dilly flavor.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the elbow macaroni until just past al dente so it stays tender once chilled. Drain and rinse under cold water until completely cool, then drain well.
Blend the dressing. Transfer the herbs and their pickle juice to a blender. Add the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice, dill pickles and Dijon. Blend until completely smooth and brilliantly green. Season generously with salt and black pepper, tasting as you go—the dressing should be punchy enough that you'd happily eat it with a spoon.
Build the salad. In a large bowl, combine the cooled macaroni with the cucumber, snap peas, celery, scallions and cheddar. Pour over the dressing and toss until every noodle is evenly coated.
Let it mingle. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving so the dressing can settle into the pasta. Just before serving, fold in a handful of chopped fresh dill and taste again. If it needs a little lift, add another squeeze of lemon or a splash of pickle juice.
Notes
Don't worry about using every herb on the ingredient list. This recipe is happiest as a clean-out-the-crisper affair. If you've got lots of dill and parsley, use those. If basil is taking over your windowsill, throw it in.
Smoked cheddar, dill Havarti or even cubes of pepper Jack are all welcome here if you're feeling adventurous.
Like most good deli salads, this is even better the next day. If the pasta has absorbed some of the dressing overnight, freshen it up with a spoonful of Greek yogurt, a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of pickle juice before serving.
Hey there! Which pasta salad are you most interested in trying first? Let me know in the comments, or by sending me a note to [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!
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What to make this week: A cheese ball no one can resist
If you're hosting over the holiday weekend — or simply looking for something cool to nibble on after this relentless heat wave—may I once again make the case for the humble cheese ball? It's affordable, endlessly customizable and, in my experience, one of those rare appetizers that people can't seem to stop hovering around. My favorite trick is to think of it less as a fixed recipe than as a blank canvas. Once you have a base of cream cheese, a flavorful cheese and a few pantry staples, the possibilities are practically endless. (If you're looking for inspiration, I've rounded up a few of my favorite combinations, including a savory giardiniera version and a sweet pistachio-raspberry take.)
This weekend, I'm taking my own advice and tinkering with what I'm calling a Red, White & Bleu Cheese Ball: cream cheese whipped with just enough blue cheese to keep things interesting, then coated in a glossy mixture of strawberry jam and hot honey for a sweet-spicy finish. If it turns out as delicious as it sounds in my head, you can bet it'll be making its way into a future issue of The Bite.
What we’re reading and watching: “Very Good Salads” and “The Cheap Detective”
Now watching (Ashlie Stevens)
Speaking of things I'm tinkering with in the kitchen, July has officially flipped a switch in my brain. Despite the recent heat wave, it feels like summer has properly arrived, and with it comes a very specific craving: big, crunchy dinner salads. So I've decided to embark on a gentle little "Salad Days" challenge. Not 30 days, 30 salads—the recovering perfectionist in me floated that idea before I politely showed her the door—but a few new-to-me salads each week. Enough to keep dinner interesting without turning the produce aisle into homework.
I'll almost certainly be sharing a few favorite salad cookbooks over the coming weeks (I've already sung the praises of “Salad Freak”), but this week I've been happily leafing through “Very Good Salads: Middle Eastern Salads and Plates” for Sharing by Shuki Rosenboim and Louisa Allan of Melbourne's Very Good Falafel. The title makes a bold promise, but so far it seems intent on keeping it. Watermelon with za'atar. Peaches with basil and hazelnuts. Grilled leeks with pomegranate. It's the sort of cookbook that makes you want to come home from the farmers' market and immediately start chopping.
Once the sun went down, however, my tastes skewed considerably darker. One stormy evening recently turned into an impromptu film noir marathon, ending with Neil Simon's delightfully absurd “The Cheap Detective.” Peter Falk is exactly the kind of rumpled private eye I can never resist, supported by an outrageous cast that includes Madeline Kahn, Stockard Channing, Eileen Brennan and Dom DeLuise chewing every available piece of scenery. My favorite moment comes early, when Falk's Lou Peckinpaugh asks a client if she'd like a drink. She says yes.
Without missing a beat, he opens his desk drawer and produces a perfectly made martini. Honestly, if your furniture can't offer that level of hospitality, what are we even doing?
Until next week,
Ashlie Stevens, senior food editor
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