Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Cold Vietnamese Shrimp & Noodle Salad

Mission Bay, San Diego
One of my go-to, simple meals—especially when the weather warms up (or when should warm up, at least—this is San Francisco after all). I semi-accidentally bought a five-pound bag of rice noodles at a local Asian market and thus have quite a supply to make my way through. We have gotten into a bit of a habit of treating sriracha a bit like salt and pepper, keeping it close at hand for nearly every meal, this one being no exception. The vinaigrette recipe, listed below, is really an approximation—add or subtract ingredients as it suits you (I just try to come up with an end product that has enough oil to emulsify the mixture and enough acid to give it a good punch). 

Shots from the San Diego Crew Classic

To give away my dirty little secret—when really in a rush and not feeling flush—Trader Joe's has some lovely frozen, pre-cooked shrimp that I just defrost with a little of Hetchy-Hetchy's finest and toss into the salad. 

P.S. Yuzu is not Vietnamese. I snuck it in there though. 
the key ingredient