Cucumber, Basil, & Sesame Paste Noodles

This dish is especially good in summer, because the noodles are served at room temperature or cold, and are light.

• Spaghetti or linguine noodles (yes preferably the Italian kind, but you could try soba noodles if you prefer)
• Cucumbers (preferably Japanese or English, but regular cucumbers are okay)
• sesame seeds
• rice vinegar
• mirin
• sesame oil
• hot oil
• salt
• white pepper (optional)
• wasabi (optional)
• fresh basil leaves

Begin heating water for boiling noodles. Prepare the cucumbers while the water is heating.

If you are using Japanese cucumbers, you can use them with out peeling them; all other types of cucumbers must be peeled. Regular cumbers must also be de-seeded. Use a mandolin to julienne cucumbers into long strips roughly the width of your noodles. Since cucumbers contain a lot of water, they must be salted to extract the extra water, otherwise your noodles will be watery. To extract excess water from the cucumbers: add a few pinches of salt to the julienne cucumber strips and mix thoroughly; set aside in a bowl. After the salted cucumbers have sat for 10-30 minutes, they will start to emit water. Squeeze the cucumbers with your hands to extract more water and drain.

When the water is boiling, cook noodles until al dente. Drain (but do not rinse).

To make sauce: Grind sesame seeds with mortar in a Japanese sesame grinding bowl (available at many Japanese grocery stores). Add some rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot oil, and mirin to taste. If desired, you can also mix in some wasabi paste.

Mix sauce with noodles. Separate and loosen the cucumber strips and mix with the noodles. Taste noodles and add more salt if necessary The cucumbers already have salt, so additional salt may not be necessary. If the noodles seem bland, then you probably need more salt. There should be enough vinegar to give them a slight tang.

Before serving, julienne some fresh basil and lightly mix with noodles. Noodles can be served at room temperature or cold.