sesame ginger noodle salad with pan-grilled flank steak
it's a 2 for 1 kinda recipe!
Yesterday was my first *full* day of heavy farm work in 2023, and goodness gracious my body is tired. But it’s the best kind of tired. I love being so physically exhausted at the end of the day that my (normally over-anxious) brain doesn’t have the energy to spin and worry and keep me awake, and I pretty immediately fall into a deep, restorative sleep. It’s why I’m so grateful to have found my way to farming, because it’s work that is tangible and keeps my head clear + my heart healthy.
Yesterday we were working on pruning our blackberries and installing a trellis system – a project that was long overdue and had us wading through a literal forest of overgrown (but thankfully thornless) blackberry canes. I’ll be honest that working with berries is still very new to me (vegetables are more my forte), so I’m very much learning as I go… see below for a few snapshots of our progress: the 1st pic is before we started, 2nd is after pruning, and 3rd is after driving 48 (!) 7 foot tall t-posts into the ground, which will serve as the base of our trellising structure.
In the next week or two, we will tie up 3 lines of trellising wire to the t-posts, which will support the blackberry canes as they grow and produce fruit. We planted these blackberries last year, so this will be the first season we’ll have berries to harvest, which I literally cannot wait for.
These longer days working outside also means that I’m VERY hungry by dinnertime, and today’s recipe for Sesame Ginger Noodle Salad with Pan Grilled Flank Steak is a dish that’s been nourishing me all week long… keep reading for the full recipe!
Who doesn’t love a 2 for 1 combo? That’s what this recipe is all about. As a tired and hungry farmer, I dig a weeknight dinner that has a protein and a veggie side/salad in one, for minimal mess and stress.
For this recipe, you start by whisking up a super simple sesame ginger sauce, which serves as both the marinade for your steak AND a finger-lickin good sauce to dress a delish noodle salad that’s chock full of veggies, herbs, and salty roasted peanuts.
You can totally skip the steak and just enjoy the noodle salad on its own, or cook another protein like chicken, fish, or tofu instead… whatever floats your boat. A note that if you do skip the steak, you’ll have about 1/2 cup more sesame ginger sauce than you’ll need for the noodle salad, but the extra sauce will totally keep in the fridge for about a week and you can use it for something else.
See below for the full recipe, and you’ll also find a one-page PDF version for easy printing.
Sesame Ginger Noodle Salad with Pan-Grilled Flank Steak
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce (or sub with gluten free liquid aminos)
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (or use ½ teaspoon ground ginger)
1.5-2lb flank steak
14 oz package udon noodles, cooked until tender (or sub with soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2-3 carrots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)Â
1 hothouse cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 bunch scallions, green parts thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
PREPARATION
Make the sesame ginger sauce by whisking together the honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger in a medium bowl until emulsified.Â
Put the flank steak in a freezer-size ziplock bag and add ½ cup of the sesame ginger sauce. Close the bag tightly and make sure the steak is well covered in the sauce, then place in your fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Set the remainder of the sauce aside, as you will use it to dress the noodle salad.Â
To make the noodle salad, add you cooked noodles to a large bowl and combine with the carrots, cucumber, scallions, peanuts, cilantro, and toasted sesame seeds.Â
Add most of the remaining sesame ginger sauce over the noodles and toss well to combine (I like to reserve a bit of the sauce to drizzle over everything right before serving).
To cook the flank steak, heat a grill pan (or an outdoor grill) over high heat on your stovetop.
Remove the flank steak from the ziplock bag and pat away excess sauce with a paper towel. Lightly season the steak with a bit of kosher salt and pepper.Â
Place the steak on your pre-heated grill pan and cook for 5 minutes on each side, or until the steak reaches your desired level of doneness.
Once the steak is cooked to your liking, remove from the pan, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice the steak thinly and against the grain and serve with the noodle salad (and a bit of extra sauce if you have any remaining).
A FEW NOTES:
This recipe makes a lot of noodle salad, but it holds great in the fridge and makes for awesome leftovers through the week!
If you prefer to cook flank steak on an outdoor grill or using the broiler, go for it! If you do decide to go the grill pan route, but don’t have a grill pan you like, this one is my favorite.
If you don’t have flank steak, skirt steak is a similar cut that is the next closest substitute. Or feel free to mix it up and cook an entirely different protein instead to go with the noodle salad.
Happy cooking, good lookin!
xo Michelle
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