Tomato Love

If I were stranded on a desert island and could only bring three things one of them would definitely be tomatoes. They encompass the fruit and vegetable genre, are sweet yet savory, and come in a myriad of colors, shapes, and flavors. If I ever develop a green thumb, or move to greener pastures (not likely for a city girl like me), or hit it big in the lotto and buy an apartment with my own private terrace (a girl can dream!), I plan to grow my own tomatoes. This would probably be cost efficient as I can easily graze through a pint of tomatoes in the course of an evening. I love them so.

Before I lived in New York I knew your basic plum, vine and cherry tomatoes. The farmers at the Greenmarket have opened my eyes to the beautiful varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Yesterday, while wandering through Union Square I bought a pint of these beauties. In hues of purple, yellow, green, and rose, all they needed was a sprinkling of salt, a squeeze of lemon, olive oil, garlic, and a chiffonade of mint. It was the perfect salad to end yet another hot and humid day.

This evening, after a run to the Manhattan Bridge and back, I came home needing more than salad. Inspired by Tyler Florence's "Tyler's Ultimate" cookbook, I made a slightly modified version of his Beef Noodle Salad. Seared flank steak, sliced thin, is served atop cold soba noodles that are tossed with Satur Farms wild arugula, roasted cherry tomatoes, peanuts, and mint. These are all bound together with a salad dressing of argula, peanuts, lime juice, serrano chile, and olive oil. The dressing is vibrant green and spicy from the chile and arugula. Can I just say I love that arugula also goes by the name of "rocket." So much more fun to say and perfect for this robust summer salad.

**I made enough noodles for four people with plenty for leftovers, depending how hungry you are. Since I was cooking for myself I used 1/2 pound of steak, enough for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. This recipe makes more than enough noodles to vary it up for at least four meals if you like myself and take leftovers for lunch over the next few days. Some seared shrimp, grilled chicken or tofu would be delicious on top of this salad. Then again, the noodles are so good on their own you can just eat them on their own.

Beef Noodle Salad

Dressing:

• a few handfuls of arugula
• juice of one lime
• 1 chile pepper (i used a serrano but Tyler's recipe calls for Thai Chile)
• 1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts
  
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
  
• salt
  

Throw all of the above ingredients in a blender and puree until you have a smooth dressing.
Season with salt.

Salad:

• 12 oz. soba noodles or glass noodles
• 1/2 - 1 lb. of steak**
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 bunch or several large handfuls of arugula
  
• a handful to 1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts
  
• a handful of mint
  

Boil water for your noodles. When it is up to a rolling boil add salt and whatever noodles you like. Soba noodles take 4-5 minutes to cook while thin glass or cellophane noodles can cook in 2 minutes. Drain and rinse the noodles with cold water when they are done. In the meantime, heat a skillet, cast iron preferably if you are cooking indoors and do not have a grill, and pour in enough olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Season the steak with salt and pepper on both sides and sear it 2-3 minutes on each side. Depending what cut of meat you use you may want to finish cooking the meat off in the oven (if you have a particularly thick piece of meat). Let the meat rest on a cutting board while you combine the other ingredients. Throw the tomatoes into the same pan you used for the steak and let them roast in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. They are done when they are sizzling and the skins are lightly blackened.

Toss the noodles, arugula, roasted tomatoes, mint, peanuts and dressing together. Top with steak and enjoy.

**Tyler's recipe calls for NY Strip Steak but given that was $29.00/lb at Whole Foods I opted for a cut of flank steak.